What If
by Dark Dancer Kayla
Summary: What if Neville's parents weren't tortured to insanity that night? What if James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had been lying in wait for Voldemort that night and had died killing him? How different would the world be? Here's what I think. SLASH
1. Chapter 1

So Here I go again with another AU story. This one is about Neville, there's not enough about him and a what if story about how different things could be if just the slightest changes occurred in the world we all know and love. Neville is the main character along with Draco and Harry. There will be Gryffindor bashing, just a heads up.

Chapter 1

Neville Longbottom was a Ravenclaw, one of the smartest in his year. He was tall, attractive, excelled in almost all of his classes, had tons of friends and the greatest boyfriend in the world, honestly he couldn't be happier. His parents were immensely proud of him and he was all set with his career, all in all things were going great.

Right at the moment he was sitting in the Great Hall eating lunch with Hermione, Cho, Padma, Theo and of course Dean, his wonderful, perfect boyfriend. They'd been together since fourth year, two years now, and even though they were yet to take the biggest step in their relationship they were very happy and great together, everyone said so. Dean was a Gryffindor which made the relationship a little hard at first, but they'd gotten past it and while Neville still didn't like Ron, Cormac and Seamus, Dean's Gryffindor friends, all that much he'd come to accept them and they got along for the most part.

Of course he was a prefect which meant they occasionally got into a few arguments over the Gryffindor boys' behaviour but that couldn't be helped, they weren't very good at behaving themselves and liked to pull pranks a little too often. Still, they had to accept that Neville was going to do his job whether they liked it or not and while it had been a big issue originally, it seemed to have calmed down for the most part now. They tended not to do pranks while he was around to stop them.

Yes, life was good, one more year of Hogwarts and he was off to university to study herbology. He'd always had an aptitude for it and he had plans to start a massive green house on his parents' property and cross pollinate as many species as he could to create new ones for medicinal purposes and potion making purposes. Draco, his very best friend who was in Slytherin, was a brilliant potioneer and he was going to finish his study and open his own apothecary with his godfather Severus, which they would eventually make a global company, and intended to spend their free time researching new potions for currently untreatable diseases. Neville was planning to work closely with them and grow the plants they needed as well as handing over newly cross pollinated plants for them to study.

Severus was currently a teacher at Hogwarts, a brilliant one, but he was only really around because Draco was still there. Once the boy left he was going to go as well and apparently had plans to make a start on the business while Draco was finishing up his study.

That as one brilliant thing about going to Hogwarts and one of the reasons his parents had sent him there, the houses kept such different people but all of them were brilliant in different ways and it was awesome being able to make the kinds of contacts he was now. Draco's father was a very powerful man, the Malfoy family even more well known than his own, and being friends with Draco opened up a lot of doors for Neville that wouldn't have been there if he hadn't attended Hogwarts. Of course that wasn't why he and Draco were friends, he and Draco had been friends from the moment they'd met in first year, but still, one should never overlook an opportunity to make an important contact as well, his grandmother had taught him that.

"So, is everyone done with their study plans?" Hermione asked, having finished lunch and put her utencils down.

The others all answered in the affirmative and Hermione smiled happily. They may have all been Ravenclaws and loved to study and get good marks but Hermione was always the first finished with everything and liked to make sure the rest of them were organised and sorted with everything too. She was like the mum of the group and the other prefect sharing the job with Neville this year. She was nice, very caring and devoted to her friends even if she could get a little insane about the studying, and Neville was so happy she'd been placed in Ravenclaw with him and the others, they really made a good team.

She was a muggleborn which had initially put her in a difficult position with the rest of the Ravenclaws as most of them, like most of the Slytherins, were pureblooded. Neville's parents had always taught him not to judge and he hadn't, he'd met Hermione, spoken to her, found out what an awesome person she was and befriended her, which brought the rest of the Ravenclaws around as well and very soon they forgot there'd ever been a problem at all. The group he had around him at the moment were his best friends in his house. He had other friends outside his house as well and he was glad of that, but aside from Draco his group of Ravenclaw friends were the people he was closest to and he was very pleased with the group they'd formed.

"Dean, you coming?" A voice called from up the hall and Neville and Dean both turned to see Ron, Cormac and Seamus standing at the door to the great hall motioning for Dean to join them.

"Coming," Dean called back before turning to Neville with a fond smile. "See you soon," he said leaning up to kiss him gently on the lips.

"See you soon," Neville agreed and kissed him back before Dean leapt up from the table and headed down the hall to join his friends, Neville watching him go with a soft smile on his face, he really was so lovely.

"Well, the afternoon's free are we going to head to the library?" Padma asked finishing up her own lunch.

"I had planned to," Cho replied and Hermione and The nodded in agreement.

"I'd like to take a quick stroll around the grounds first, the Gryffindors always seem to like causing trouble at this time of the day, but I'll definitely come and find you all after that," Neville replied.

"Actually you're right, I might come with you, that way we get the patrolling done quicker," Hermione suggested which Neville agreed to immediately. Definitely better to have Hermione to half the grounds, that way they could get back to studying quicker.

"All right, we'll meet you guys in the library when you're done," Theo replied moving to stand up from his chair.

"Yep, see you there," Neville agreed as he and the others followed suit. They made their way out of the great hall together and split off in opposite directions when they reached the hallway. Neville and Hermione headed outside and split off as well to get the school checked as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Neville managed most of his check rather quickly, it was only when he reached Hagrid's hut that he found reason to pause, and it wasn't because of something bad happening. A soft and beautifully melodic voice humming quietly to a song he didn't recognize caught his attention and he paused in his walk to head in that direction to see who it was. The melody was soft and lovely and the voice singing it sounded like something you'd expect to hear from an angel. He paused at a rock not far from the hut and looked down at the structure to spot a young man, sitting cross legged in the grass outside Hagrid's hut. He was only relatively short, with curly, black hair and bright green eyes and lying next to him, with it's head on the boy's lap, was one of Hagrid's baby unicorns. The boy was stroking it's furry head softly and humming the song to the beast who seemed to be happily dosing in the sun and enjoying the ministrations a great deal.

Neville recognised the boy of course, there wasn't anyone alive who hadn't heard of Harry Potter the boy whose father killed the dark lord when he was just a baby. The man had been after Harry, something about a prophecy, he'd arrived at the house and James and Lilly had fought valiantly to save their son along with friends of theirs, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. The Dark Lord had landed one good hit on Harry, the boy had the scar to prove it and some said that was why he'd never grown as tall or strong as other boys in his year, but in the end the light had prevailed and Harry had been saved. Unfortunately his life had come at a cost, James had died that night as had Remus and Sirius, leaving Lilly to raise the boy alone.

The Potters had been hailed as heroes and every witch and wizard had wanted to meet Lilly and Harry, to see the only people in the world who'd survived a meeting with Voldemort. According to Neville's parents it was all too much for Lilly and she'd completely withdrawn from their world, moving back to the muggle world she'd been born into and earning herself more than a little scorn from many of the wizarding families in England. They'd been willing to overlook her status as a muggleborn witch after she'd married Potter and she should have taken over the family title and wealth when he died to safe keep it for Harry, but she'd refused, she'd left their world behind completely and many of the blood purists used it as a way to strike as the muggleborn community, saying that Lilly's muggle blood had made her weak and a pureblooded woman would have been able to go on with life and lead the family in their husband's stead until her child had come of age.

It was rubbish of course and Neville knew that. Lilly had been distraught over her husband's death as any woman who'd loved her husband would be, pureblooded women wouldn't have been as effected as most of them were in arranged marriages and didn't love their husbands anyway, you don't miss someone you never cared for. Those who did actually care about their spoused would have gone on because they had to, because their families would have made their lives even more miserable if they hadn't, almost every pureblood family was like that, more concerned about society's opinion of them than they were about anything else.

Neville didn't judge Lilly, he didn't know how he'd go on if something happened to someone he loved, the thought of any harm befalling Dean was more painful than he wanted to think about, if she needed to leave their world in order to cope that was her business and nobody else's. Of course pretty much everybody else thought it was their business and looked down on her and Harry because of it, and this included many of the other students at Hogwarts. The other boy had friends, Neville knew he did, but he also knew a lot of people wouldn't even talk to him and he was often on his own. Neville had seen him around but he honestly didn't know the first thing about him, they almost never had classes together, he had no idea what the boy liked of didn't like, he honestly didn't even know if the boy could talk he'd never heard him speak at all. He was a complete mystery to Neville and Neville had never really been concerned with him until now.

It was all because of that voice, Neville had never heard anything like it and he was fairly certain no man or woman alive could sing that sweetly. The song had no words but it didn't need any, it just needed that voice. He wanted to go to the boy and ask what he was singing, but he was honestly too worried that if he did the divine sound would stop and he might never hear it again.

Out of nowhere the humming stopped and Harry looked up at the sky thoughtfully for several moments. Neville was worrying that he might be done with singing today until the young man pulled a book and parchment from the ground next to him and scribbled something down rather quickly before placing it back down beside him and resuming both his humming and his stroking of the gorgeous creature resting in his lap.

Neville smiled to himself and decided he'd wait until the next time that happened and approach the boy. He was enjoying the sight of the boy in front of him and the sound of his voice quite thoroughly when suddenly something else interrupted both of them, a group of Gryffindor boys. Before Harry seemingly even noticed they were there a spell had scared the unicorn away and Harry was hanging upside down in the air, his wand falling from his sleeve before he could stop it.

"Well, well, what have we here, it's the little fairy," Ron taunted as he approached, being the one who'd caste the levicorpus.

"Out here again with all your friends, Potter?" Seamus taunted moving forward to poke at the suspended boy with his wand.

"And write some more girly songs it seems," Cormac added moving to grab Harry's book from the ground where it had been sitting beside the boy.

"And what's this one called?" Ron asked peering over Cormac's shoulder and reading the page the book was open to. "Oh, no name yet, just a whole bunch of faggy words," Ron taunted tearing the page out of the book and holding it out with his wand pointed toward it.

Neville, who was already on his way down to assist the poor boy, could see the look of sadness on the boy's face at the possibility of his work being destroyed and it ripped at his heart. How long had Harry been putting up with this? And why had Neville and the other prefects never seen it? Ron's words made him see red and as soon as he was close enough he hit the boy with an expelliamus sending him flying into Hagrid's vegetable patch and causing him to drop the piece of paper in his hand. The others looked over and spotted Neville approaching, saw the look of anger on his face, and decided very wisely to take their leave scampering away like frightened puppies.

Neville reached Harry and cast an aresto momentum, to lower Harry carefully to the ground and checked that he was okay, to which the boy only nodded moving immediately to grab the page Ron had dropped. Neville ignored Ron as the boy scurried out of the vegetable garden and away as fast as his currently limping form could manage, it was probably best Neville didn't approach him just now, it wouldn't end pretty. He picked up Harry's book that was lying open where Cormac had dropped it before he ran away and inside, behind the page Ron had ripped out, was a beautiful picture of the unicorn Harry had just been petting. It was amazingly drawn and beautifully shaded and Neville looked up at the boy with a smile wanting to tell him so only to see Harry watching him warily, as if waiting for Neville to try and destroy his work as Ron had wanted to.

"The picture is amazing, Harry," Neville told him with a smile and Harry looked surprised by the complement, although the wariness didn't fade at all as Neville had hoped it would. Not wanting to worry Harry further he held the book out for the boy to take which he did, a quiet 'thank you', leaving his lips in the first words Neville had ever heard him speak. His voice was soft and lovely, even sweeter than Neville had thought it would be and he found his smile growing just a little at the small victory he was claiming in his head of being able to get Harry to say something for the first time ever.

"You're welcome," Neville replied quietly. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.

Harry nodded again but didn't say anything and Neville nodded back accepting that the boy wasn't going to talk again.

"All right, I'll walk you back up to the castle in case they come back and I'll be speaking to McGonagall about their behaviour toward you," he promised the boy who just looked at his feet and nodded before heading up toward the school. Neville walked with him until he was safely back in the Hufflepuff dorm before heading to the head of Gryffindor's office to speak to her about Ron and the others.

XX

So what did we think? Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

The Dancing Orchid

That night at dinner Dean didn't come over to sit with Neville and he figured it was because Ron had told the other boy some story about what had happened that afternoon. As it was Neville was already in trouble from McGonagal for using a spell on Ron, even if the other boy did deserve it, but she'd promised to give the group detention for what they'd done. As annoyed as Neville was at Dean for not even bothering to come over and get his side of the story before instantly believing Ron and the others, Neville found more of his attention focused on the Hufflepuff table and Harry, who was sitting between a Susanne Bones and Ernie McMillan. Both were speaking to him and he'd occasionally nod or smile at something but he didn't seem to speak all that much, even to his housemates. It was odd, Neville had never looked twice at the boy, thought twice about the boy, but now he found he could think of little else. Harry was a puzzle and Neville had always liked puzzles.

"What's got your attention over there, Nev?" Theo asked, following his line of sight over to where Potter was sitting. "Potter, really?" the other boy asked surprised.

Neville stopped his study of Harry and turned to look at Theo. "I told you what happened today with the Gryffindors and him, I was just looking to see if he was really okay, he didn't say a whole lot afterwards, not that there's anything new there," Neville lied, not really wanting to explain that Harry had begun to fascinate him.

"He seems all right," Theo replied, looking over at Harry again. "And like you said, nothing new about him being quiet at all."

"No, I guess you're right," Neville agreed, wanting to get the other boy to focus on something else for a minute. "How was the study this afternoon?"

"Great, got heaps done," Theo replied. "If you want to look at any of my notes just say so, I know all the stuff with Potter kept you tied up for quite a while."

"I think I'll be all right, but thanks," Neville replied, giving the other boy a grateful smile. Theo smiled back and returned to his food giving Neville another chance to look across the room at Harry. The boy was eating his dinner quietly, his friends still talking around him. He must have felt Neville's eyes on him because all of a sudden he glanced up and those intensely beautiful, emerald eyes were suddenly looking straight at Neville's. He held Neville's glance only a moment before a light blush covered his features and he turned his attention back to his food. Neville couldn't help but grin at the other boy's embarrassment, his grin only widening as Harry glanced back up, most likely to see if Neville was still watching him and immediately averted his eyes again, the blush intensifying.

Neville took pity on the boy then and looked away, continuing on with his dinner. He felt Harry's gaze on him a couple more times during the night, but he kept himself from looking back, not wanting to frighten the boy or embarrass him further. When dinner was over Neville walked back to the Ravenclaw dorm with the rest of his friends and headed straight for his room, wanting some time alone to ponder the mystery that was Harry Potter and hopefully catch up on the studying he missed earlier in the day.

He was going to get the boy to talk some more before they left at the end of the year, even if it took until the day they boarded the train to head home. And maybe, if he was lucky, he would convince the boy to sing something for him.

XX

Dean approached him the following day while he and the others were sitting at the Ravenclaw table enjoying their breakfast.

"Okay, so I'm calm and collected now and I'm ready to hear your side of what happened yesterday," he said as he sat down across from Neville.

Neville considered the boy across from him. He hadn't admitted to anyone that he was worried about how what had happened yesterday would affect his relationship with the Gryffindor. He'd been angry with Dean for not coming to talk to him the previous night and if he were honest with himself he still was a little, something that intensified with the way Dean was now approaching him, as if Neville was the one who should be sorry. Unfortunately there was one inconvenient facet of their relationship that they were both aware of and Neville knew the other boy took advantage of; Neville was too much in love with him to stay angry at him, regardless of what he did. That love always led to him feeling upset and worried about Dean leaving him so he was always the one to apologise and try and make things right.

The pattern annoyed him, and as much as he knew he had been the one to create it Dean had never volunteered to help him be rid of it, and this time Neville wasn't going to be the one to give in. He was angry and Ron had deserved what he did, he wouldn't apologise to Dean for something that hadn't had anything to do with him. He studied the other boy for several moments before returning to his food without a word.

Dean was silent for several moment before finally asking, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Neville didn't look up as he replied, "If you're going to come over here and start the conversation like that, then no."

"You attacked my friend!" Dean snapped.

"Your asshole of a friend had it coming," Neville replied, keeping the tenor of his voice calm even though he could feel himself getting angrier with every second that passed.

"Since when does being a prefect give you the right to send people flying into vegetable gardens?" Dean demanded angrily.

"Oh I don't know, maybe since being a Gryffindor started giving you lot the right to do and say whatever you want to whoever you want without consequence," Neville snarled in reply, finally looking up at his boyfriend. "Tell me what, in Merlin's name, has Potter ever done to you? He sits quietly in class, he doesn't say anything mean to anyone, he doesn't really say a lot of anything at all, he's never done anything to hurt anyone so why him?"

"The guys were just messing around with him," Dean argued.

"Oh, is that right?" Neville asked. "I'm curious, do you actually know what they were doing to him and condone it as 'messing around' of have your darling friends been keeping you in the dark about how they treat people? And just how long have your friends been calling people faggots and fairies?"

Dean looked shocked and he opened and closed his mouth several times with nothing coming out before he finally managed to say, "They dont-"

"Oh they most certainly do," Neville cut him off. "And if you think I'm lying perhaps you don't know your friends as well as you think you do."

Dean fell silent and looked down at the table.

Neville took a breath to calm himself before continuing. "I know they're your friends and you think they're good people, but you know what, they're not. I've put up with a lot from them over the years, their games and their silly pranks. I've let they off because none of it hurt anyone, but this wasn't a game or a prank, this was bullying, and I will not condone it, whether they're your friends or not."

Dean didn't say anything so Neville continued.

"Now, I think what would be best is for you to go back to your table, go about your day and come back and talk to me when you're off your high horse and over your anger at something I didn't do. I love you, but I won't be spoken to like that, particularly when you chose to take their side before you even heard mine," he finished, turning back to his breakfast and ignoring the boy, as hard as it was for him.

Dean sat silently for several moments before Neville heard him get up and walk away from the table. It took every ounce of strength he possessed to keep from following him and begging to be forgiven like his heart wanted him to. He hated upsetting Dean, but he wouldn't give in this time.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked quietly from beside him, her hand coming to rest softly on his arm.

"No," Neville replied honestly, pushing his food around the plate with his fork.

"I'm sorry," she said sympathetically, "but you did the right thing."

"I know," Neville replied with a sigh. "I just ... you know how I am," he said, looking over at her with a self deprecating smile.

"It'll be okay, he'll come around; he loves you," she reassured him, rubbing his back gently.

"I can only hope so," he replied, putting his fork down and giving up on his breakfast before the food threatened to make a re-appearance. He knew he'd done the right thing, he just hoped he didn't regret it.

XX

The worry about Dean was eating at him so he did his best to think about other things, something made easier when Harry walked by him that morning while he was heading to herbology. With a smile he moved to catch up with the boy who seemed to be heading to the green houses as well.

"Good morning, Mr Potter," he greeted, falling into step beside the other boy.

Harry looked over at him, a surprised look on his face. He nodded in reply and looked down at the books he was holding in front of him.

"Where are you headed?" Neville asked.

"Herbology," Harry answered quietly and Neville started wondering if he'd mistaken which class he had that morning.

"Really? I thought I had Herbology now," he said thoughtfully.

"You might, I'm not sure," Harry replied quietly. "They've just moved me to this class."

"Really? Why?" Neville asked surprised; people almost never moved classes at Hogwarts.

"I don't know," Harry replied quietly, still not looking up from his books.

"Well then, I guess we'll be in class together. That's nice," Neville said with a smile and even though he wasn't looking at Harry he felt the Hufflepuff's surprised and wary gaze on him. The rest of their walk was taken in silence and when they arrived at the greenhouses professor sprout was already there waiting for them. She smiled as she saw Neville approaching with Harry and moved forward to greet them.

"Ah, my two favourite students," she greeted only loud enough for the two of them to hear. "How are you both this morning?"

Neville replied that he was well and Harry murmured something beside him that he couldn't catch. The head of Hufflepuff seemed to have no trouble understanding him however and stood back with a smile. "Wonderful! Now Harry you are obviously aware that I have moved you to this class since you've arrived this morning. I did this because you and Mr Longbottom are my two top students and I wanted you two to work together this year. Both of your previous partners were talented wizards, but not as talented as the two of you when it comes to my class and I want you both to have the best possible chance to excel. I hope that's all right," she explained with a smile, looking from one to the other to make sure they weren't unhappy with the change.

"It's fine with me," Neville replied with a smile, pleased that he'd now have a reason to spend time with his little puzzle and doubly pleased to be rid of his previous partner. Professor Sprout wasn't wrong when she said he was nowhere near as good as Neville, in fact he'd been rather hopeless and Neville had been more than a little sick of his incompetence.

Harry just nodded beside him and Professor Sprout smiled happily at the pair. "Wonderful! I wanted to get you paired up before I gave you your new plant of study so head on over to your normal station Mr Longbottom and show Harry how you've set everything up. As soon as the rest of the class is here we'll begin," she directed, heading up to the front of the room.

Neville showed Harry over to his area and did as Professor Sprout had asked. The other boy listened intently to everything he said before settling in beside him to wait for the rest of the class. While they were waiting Neville decided to try talking to the other boy a little.

"So you're good at Herbology?" he asked conversationally.

Harry nodded but didn't say anything.

"What other subjects to you like?" Neville asked, hoping that might prompt Harry to talk.

"Charms, transfiguration, ancient runes," Harry replied softly without looking up.

"What do you want to do when you're finished here?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged and didn't say anything so Neville pondered over what else he could ask the boy.

"Have you always been so good at drawing?" he asked not really knowing what else to ask.

Harry shrugged again. Okay, not really getting anywhere.

"Do you only draw animals or other things too?" he asked, a last ditch effort to get Harry to say something as he could see the last few students floating into the greenhouse.

"I draw other things too," the boy replied quietly before Professor Sprout called the class to order and Neville smiled at his small victory before giving the professor his full attention.

The class went quite smoothly and the groups were all given their magical, dancing orchid to study for the semester. They had to water it just right, give it the right kind and amount of plant food and pet it's stem just right for ten minutes every day. If they did that it should bloom for them on the full moon in two months time, just before they went home for Christmas. If it did they would pass this term. If the plant really liked them Professor Sprout also told them the orchid would dance a special dance for them when she opened at the full moon. The orchid flower was, of course, closed at the moment and nobody knew what colour their bloom would be until it emerged on that full moon night. Neville hoped it would be beautiful, he really loved orchids.

Professor Sprout gave them all a book about their orchids and left them alone to decide on a care plan for their plants. It didn't need everything done for it at exactly the same time every day but it needed at least a little consistency so if they chose to do its cares in the morning it would have to be every morning without exception. Neville pulled out his class schedule and organiser and turned to look at Harry with questioning eyes.

"What would be better for you morning or afternoon?" he asked.

Harry studied his own schedule for a few moments before telling Neville afternoon.

"Okay, afternoon's better for me as too so that works in well. I think that, most afternoons anyway, we should come down together to handle the cares and just come separately if someone has a class that day, what do you think?" Neville asked.

Harry nodded and looked down at his organiser. "Three's probably the best time for me, I only have one class at that time which is on Wednesday and we should be finished in plenty of time to get back for dinner."

Neville fought the grin that wanted to come to his face when he realised that was the longest sentence he'd ever heard Harry say and looked down at his own organiser. "Three should be fine, I have a class on Thursday, but I'll be around to handle the Wednesday cares if you're okay to do the Thursday ones?" he asked.

Harry nodded and marked it in his organiser.

"Great," Neville replied marking the time on his organiser and fighting not to grin. He'd wanted a chance to get to know Harry, looks like he was getting that chance and a beautiful orchid to go with it.

The plant moved gracefully from side to side in its usual dancing pattern. According to Professor Sprout they did that from sunrise to sunset before falling asleep and re-awaking the following morning to start again. Apparently you knew if you were stroking them properly by how they reacted to your touch. If they swayed faster they were happy, if the swaying stopped or slowed they didn't like what you were doing and you had to stop and start again when the plant had returned to its original rhythm. They needed at least one good petting per day, but you could do so as often as you wished as long as you were doing it right.

Neville studied the diagram in the book Professor Sprout had given him and committed it to memory before placing the book down, intending to reach out and pet the plant. He was shocked to look up and find Harry already reaching out to the plant which jumped slightly at his touch before beginning to move and sway in enjoyment as he pet it just the right way. The look on the boy's features was so calm and serene, a look of fondness in his beautiful, emerald eyes as he watched the plant dance to his ministrations. Neville was a little jealous he hadn't been the first to do that, but seeing Harry look something other than nervous or withdrawn made that feeling go away and instead he enjoyed the sight presented to him, both from the plant and the other boy.

"Oh, Harry, that's wonderful!" Professor Sprout exclaimed happily before calling for the classes attention. "See how Mr Potter is petting his flower and it's dancing like that, that is exactly what you need to do, 10 points to Hufflepuff," she praised and Neville looked down at Harry to see the calm look gone and once more replaced by the nervous, withdrawn look Harry usually wore. Neville was disappointed to say the least, but he felt even worse for Harry who obviously hated the spotlight and now had everyone in the class watching him pet his plant. Wanting to help Neville leant closer to Harry and asked if he could have a go, to which the boy nodded and moved aside to let Neville get closer to the plant. Neville reached out and began to gently stroke the plant's stem as Harry had done and was pleased when the happy dancing resumed.

"Very good, Mr Longbottom," Sprout praised, before turning to the rest of the class. "All right everyone else, time to give it a go, just like you saw these two doing it," she directed and the class moved to comply. Neville's attention turned back to Harry and he asked Harry if he wanted to take over again. He moved aside and let Harry back in next to the plant, happy when the nervous look started to fade from the young Hufflepuff once more and the look of serenity returned. Neville smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the book they'd been given, wanting to give Harry a bit of privacy.

When they were dismissed at the end of the lesson they headed to the Great Hall together for lunch, Harry his usual quiet, reserved self. They agreed to meet up at the greenhouse that afternoon before breaking to head to their house tables, Neville still smiling until his eyes fell on the Gryffindor table and Dean who was sitting with Seamus, Ron, Cormac and Lavender. The hussy of a girl was rubbing Dean's back and pretending to be all caring when it was obvious she just wanted to plaster herself to him. Dean himself looked torn and Neville wanted to go to him so badly, but he closed his eyes, steeled himself and made his way over to the Ravenclaw table, his back to the Gryffindors so he couldn't see his boyfriend.

"Are you all right?" Cho asked as he sat down and he shook his head, turning his attention to the food in the middle of the table and knowing he had to choose something to eat even though he wasn't the least bit interested in food right now. He made a roll with the chicken and salad on the table and proceeded to play with it for most of the break. He felt the others' worried gazes on him throughout lunch and when it was time to head to the next lesson Hermione and Padma walked closer to him than usual, wanting to show their support.

Potions was next. Neville always enjoyed those lessons as he was partnered with Draco and he hadn't had much of a chance to chat to the other boy recently, both of them being busy with school and the like.

"Hey, Nev," Draco greeted brightly before obviously noticing the look on Neville's face. "Wow, you don't look so happy," he commented in a more subdued tone. "Has your day just sucked or..?"

"Fighting with Dean," Neville explained, slipping into the chair next to his blonde friend.

"Oh, that's crap, mate, sorry," Draco replied sympathetically, giving his shoulder a friendly squeeze. "What are you guys fighting over?"

"His friends being tools and him taking their side over mine," Neville replied matter-of-factly.

"Ah, that, yes I remember it being a problem early on," Draco said thoughtfully.

"Yes, early on it was, but it hasn't been for ages," Neville replied, frustrated by the whole situation. "Then again I've never seen them do anything this bad. Usually it's just pranks and stuff but this was ... it was bullying, it was awful, and the bastards were saying all these derogatory things about gay people which really pissed me off. I may have overreacted a little, but I think Ron deserved being expelliamused into a vegetable patch personally."

Draco snorted a laugh and nodded. "Of course he did. You don't overreact, Nev, you never have, if you were mad enough to do that he must have done something bad enough to earn it. I'm just sorry I wasn't around to see it."

"It was a thing of beauty," Neville replied with a sigh.

"Hey, don't worry, Dean will come around," Draco reassured him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling into a sideways hug. "He knows Ron and the others are gits, anyone with eyes can see that. It'll be okay, I'm sure of it."

Neville gave him a grateful smile and leant his head gently against the other boy's. "I miss you when I don't see you for a while," he said wistfully.

Draco chuckled. "I know; me too. But think positive, when school's over we'll be in college together then working together and you'll see far more of me than you can ever handle," the blonde reminded him brightly.

Neville scoffed, "I don't honestly think there is such a thing," he disagreed.

Draco smiled and rubbed his arm gently a few times before Snape glided into the room and they pulled apart to get their things ready for the lesson. They were given their potion to work on and got to it, following the head of Slytherin's instructions which were written up on the board. Neville found potions class soothing; you got a recipe, gathered your ingredients, followed the instructions and watched as your creation came together. It helped clear his mind of his worries and focus on other things, like his future and the greenhouse he was going to build.

Draco worked beside him, making the potion construction look effortless as always. He was a good partner to have in general and even more so when Snape gave them a particularly hard potion to work on as Draco never seemed to struggle with a potion, even when the rest of the class were tearing their hair out. He always got them right and his explanations to Neville about how to do everything were flowing and flawless. Neville always wondered why the other boy was even bothering to do a potions degree, he already seemed to know more than most people about the subject.

They had finished the preparations and were just waiting for the potion to simmer and reach its final potency. Snape walked by their desk and inspected their work before giving them a nod and moving on, obviously happy with how it all looked.

"Hey, so I was thinking, how about we have a proper catch up after class? I don't have anything after potions today and there's something I want to talk to you about," Draco suggested.

"I have to go to the greenhouse for about 10m minutes at three, but I'm free otherwise, sounds good," Neville agreed.

"Great. I'll come with you to the greenhouse; I'd like to see what Sprout has you guys working on now," Draco replied.

"Dancing orchids," Neville replied with a grin.

Draco blinked at him for a moment before asking, "Do they actually-?"

"Yep," Neville cut him off, his grin widening.

Draco chuckled. "A dancing plant, that has to be amusing," the blonde decided.

"Actually it's quite pretty," Neville replied.

Draco nodded and they returned to watching their potion as it had started to change colour.

XX

At 10 to 3 they made their way down to the greenhouse together, chatting happily about their lessons and classmates. Neville wasn't surprised to find he was the first one there and took Draco over to see his and Harry's orchid. Draco watched it dance and sway for a moment before turning to look at Neville with a grin.

"It really does dance," he stated with a chuckle.

"I told you so," Neville replied, moving over to the plant and reaching out to stroke it. "And when you do this..." The plant started it's more pronounced movements and Draco chuckled again.

"Better be careful Nev, it might just fall in love you," the blonde warned, causing Neville to chuckle back.

"It has to be petted for at least 10 minutes a day," Neville told him, reaching out to grab the plant food and watering can from the draw in his work station as his fingers continued their ministrations. "If we do it right the flower opens on the full moon in two months time we get to see what colour it is."

"We?" Draco asked curiously.

"Oh yes, I forgot I hadn't told you, I have a partner for this assignment," Neville replied, tapping the watering can with his wand to fill it with water.

"Ah, another partnered one. Don't tell me you're stuck with that moron Lenny again," Draco asked sympathetically.

"No, thankfully not," Neville replied. "Actually Sprout moved him out of the class and moved in someone from the other class to work with me. She said we're both the top of our classes and she wanted us together so we could help each other thrive this year."

"Nice, so who is it?" Draco asked.

"Actually it's Harry Potter," Neville replied.

Draco's face took on a shocked expression. "Really, Potter? I didn't realise he was good at Herbology. Actually I didn't realise he was good at anything," Draco stated with a thoughtful frown. "I mean I see him in class occasionally and he does his work, but he's just so ... I don't know, invisible."

"He certainly does go out of his way to make himself so," Neville agreed. "I actually hadn't even heard him speak until I saved him from Ron and his lot the other day."

"Oh, so it was him? Yeah, I can see now why they're so pissed," Draco said as if he finally understood something

"Why?" Neville asked confused.

"Well you must know Potter's their favourite target, they're always picking on him," Draco replied matter-of-factly.

"No, I didn't know that," Neville replied. How had he never seen that before?

"Maybe you're just never around when they do it, but it's been happening for years," Draco explained.

"And no one's done anything about it?" Neville asked angrily.

"Hey, they're Gryffindors, you know Dumbledore will never do anything about them, they're his golden children," Draco reminded him with more than a hint of irritation in his voice. "I mean the Hufflepuffs' used to report it to the teachers but nothing was ever done about it. In the end they just stopped bothering."

"But that's awful! Harry hasn't done anything to deserve that!" Neville snapped angrily.

"Of course he hasn't, Neville, they're Gryffindors, since when do they need a reason to pick on someone," Draco reminded him. "You know they probably just picked him because he was an easy target. He's always alone and he never fights back, why would they use more time and energy on other people if they didn't have to?"

"It's not right, Harry's a nice guy," Neville replied, still annoyed.

"I'm sure he is, Nev, but what can you do? Nothing will ever be done about it while they're at the school, Dumbledore likes them too much," Draco said with a sigh.

"I'm going to do something about it," Neville replied determinedly.

"Really? And what are you going to do?" Draco asked curiously.

"I'm going to befriend Harry, I'm going to draw him into my group and I'm going to keep the Gryffindor bastards away from him," Neville replied.

"Okay, but, why?" Draco asked.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

"I mean what's the sudden interest in Potter?" Draco asked. "I mean you've never gone out of your way to talk to him before or been interested in him as a person, why now?"

"Because he's nice, he doesn't deserve to be treated that way and I didn't know about it before now and ..." he trailed off, the look on Draco's face telling him the blonde didn't believe what he was saying and in all honestly Neville didn't know what he was saying. He didn't really have an answer for the Slytherin. "I honestly don't know," he eventually admitted. "In a way I find him rather fascinating and I want to know more about him, but as to why that is ... I mean I wasn't lying before when I said he was nice. We've started working on his project together and he's been lovely, quiet but lovely. I don't know, there's something about him that just makes me want to know him better; I can't explain why."

"Well it's not like it's a bad thing really. He is Harry Potter, his family is the reason we're all free to live our lives as we want, they deserve our gratitude," Draco said.

"They don't get it though," Neville pointed out.

"No, they really don't," Draco agreed.

"I want to change that and I want to get to know Harry better, are you going to join me or would you rather stay out of it?" Neville asked.

Draco looked at him incredulously. "Nev, come on, it's me you're talking to, do you honestly expect me to leave you to take on the entire school of Gryffindors alone? You're my best friend, of course I want to help, and besides you know how much I hate the weasel, getting under his skin is something I always enjoy," the blonde reminded him. "And getting to know the enigma that is Potter would certainly be an interesting adventure."

Neville grinned, "Too true. All right then, Harry should be here soon; when he arrives I'll introduce you and we can see if he'll say anything to us today," he decided.

"All right, it's a plan," Draco agreed and turned back to study the swaying plant again. "That thing really does look funny doing that," he told Neville.

"You say funny, I say pretty," Neville replied smiling up at his orchid.

Not 30 seconds later the Hufflepuff boy arrived, pausing in the doorway when he saw that Neville wasn't alone. "Potter, there you are. Come in I was just getting everything ready," Neville greeted him with a smile, reaching into the draw of their work area to find the scoop for the plant food.

Harry approached cautiously and Draco moved out of the way so the boy could slip in next to Neville, which he did while still keeping a decent distance between himself and the Ravenclaw. "Do you want to do the watering or the feeding?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged and Neville was disappointed that the boy hadn't said anything.

"Okay, how about I do the feeding today, you do the watering and tomorrow we'll trade, what do you think?" he asked.

Harry nodded and reached out for the watering can. The food and water had to be poured evenly around the base of the plant with the water following directly after the food to help it soak in. Neville counted to three and began pouring the food around the plant, Harry following directly behind with the water. They finished the pouring and watched as the food dissolved into the soil, the plant did another version of its happy dance, which made Neville smile and Draco chuckle, and reassured them that they had done it right.

Harry didn't say anything but Neville was sure he saw a ghost of a smile on the other boy's face and when the plant was done with its happy dance Harry reached out to stroke it's base, making it sway happily once again.

"You've got to wonder how it doesn't tire itself out doing that," Draco stated thoughtfully from behind them.

"Especially when it does it all day," Neville agreed.

"So you're Harry Potter aren't you?" Draco asked curiously and Neville mentally scolded himself for forgetting to introduce the blonde to his Herbology partner.

"Oh yes, sorry, Draco this is Harry Potter, Mr Potter this is Draco Malfoy, my best friend," Neville introduced the pair.

"It's nice to meet you," Draco greeted holding out his hand.

Harry who'd turned away from the plant to face Draco swapped the hand that was petting the plant with his other and took Draco's hand gently to shake. "You too," he replied politely, although Neville could see how nervous the smaller boy looked and he didn't look up at Draco for more than a moment.

Draco released him and looked at Neville as Harry turned his attention back to the orchid. "He's cute," the blonde mouthed to Neville who nodded in agreement.

"So, Potter, since we're going to be working together for a while would you prefer me to call you Potter or Harry?" Neville asked, wanting to make conversation.

"Harry's fine," the quiet boy replied without turning around.

"Okay then, call me Neville if it suits you, or Nev, most people call me that," Neville offered politely.

Harry nodded his attention still on the plant. "He really doesn't talk much," Draco mouthed to Neville,"

Neville shook his head. "I'm trying," he mouthed back.

"So, Harry, is it okay if I call you that as well?" Draco asked.

Harry nodded.

"All right, Harry, tell us a bit about yourself, what subjects do you like?" Draco asked.

"Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Herbology and Charms," Harry replied softly.

"Ah okay, I'm okay with Charms, not so great with Herbology unlike you and Neville here and transfiguration is kind of fun. I'm best at potions myself, do you like it much?" he asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Neville's good at both, not quite sure how he does it, far too smart if you ask me," Draco complimented his friend who grinned back at him. "What kind of things do you do for fun?" Draco asked, finding a spot of clear bench and lifting himself up onto it.

Harry shrugged and Neville decided to step in here. "Harry draws, he's really good at it," he told the blonde.

"Drawing really?" Draco asked surprised and Neville saw Harry stiffen, which confused him until he remembered how Ron and the others had reacted to his drawings. "What kinds of things do you draw?" Draco asked. "People? Landscapes? Buildings?"

"Everything," Harry replied quietly, his figure still not relaxed.

"Really? I can't draw anything at all," Draco told him. "You're lucky to have a talent like that, I've heard so many experts say that having an artistic outlet of any kind is so good for you, helps you unwind, de-stress and the like. Plus if you're good at it you can make a lot of money, have you ever sold any of your pictures?" Draco asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Can I see them?" Draco asked.

"I ... I don't have my book with me," Harry replied quietly.

"Oh, that's a shame, maybe next time?" Draco asked.

"Okay," Harry replied quietly, seeming to relax again. Neville smiled at his Slytherin friend; Draco was always good at talking to people, much better than Neville.

"Did you still want to talk to me about something?" Neville asked Draco, wanting to take some of the attention off Harry and give the quiet boy a moment to breathe.

"Yes, I almost forgot. I was talking to my future business partner and we were thinking about the shop. We'd mainly intended for it to be a place for buying readily made potions, but we were thinking of instead widening the business to include an area for people to purchase ingredients as well. We wanted to know if you were interested in being a partner and supplying the plant end of things, what do you think?" The blonde asked excitedly.

"Oh, well it sounds great," Neville replied with a smile, excited at the prospect.

"Excellent," Draco smiled back. "I think you'll be awesome to have as a partner."

"You too," Neville agreed.

"What about you, Harry? Any idea what you want to do after school? Are you going to be an artist?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged still patting the plant and Neville spoke again.

"That would be an awesome job wouldn't it? Travel around the world, draw or paint whatever you see. You're a lucky guy to have the possibility of doing that, Harry," he said, looking down at the other boy.

"I'm not that good," the Hufflepuff mumbled quietly.

"I think you're pretty good," Neville disagreed.

"And I'd like to weigh in but I can't," Draco added. "Still, Nev doesn't say things that aren't true so you must be good, Harry."

Neville grinned when he saw a light blush colour Harry's cute features and he looked over at Draco with a wink.

"So, are you going to stay down here for much longer or are you done for now?" Draco asked grinning back at Neville.

"What do you think, Harry?" Neville asked and the boy looked up at him, shock evident in his lovely green eyes.

"I ... I don't know," he replied, looking completely lost by the question.

"Well what do you want to do, stay here or go back to the castle?" Neville asked.

"Um, I was going to go back up and study," Harry replied nervously, looking from one to the other and Neville nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea; Draco and I were going to do the same, mind if we join you?" he asked politely.

"Um ... okay ... if you want to," Harry agreed stutteringly and Neville put all the things away before petting the plant one more time and leading the way out of the green house. Poor Harry looked so confused by Neville and Draco's actions and Neville couldn't help but think about how cute he looked like that. They made sure he was in the middle of the two of them and headed up to the library, chatting and doing their best to draw Harry in all the way.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay I'm on a roll, third update in a week and regular updates for two weeks, I'm pretty happy with myself honestly. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story, it makes me really happy to know it's being enjoyed . Anyway on with the story :)

The Mystery Deepens

Neville felt rather happy sitting at the Ravenclaw table during dinner that night. He'd had quite a nice afternoon with Draco and Harry and he was looking forward to more in the future. Harry hadn't opened up all that much but they'd gotten a few words out of him and it seemed the more time Draco spent with them the more his obsession with getting the other boy to talk rivalled Neville's. They'd walked to dinner together and split to head to their own tables ignoring the surprised looks they seemed to be having thrown at them by every table in the great hall.

"You look happier than you did this morning," Theo greeted Neville as he sat down opposite the other boy.

"I had a good afternoon," Neville explained with a smile.

"Did you make up with Dean?" Padma asked as she and Hermione joined them.

That deflated Neville a bit and he shook his head with a sigh. "No, he hasn't spoken to me at all yet," he replied glumly and the others shot cranky looks at Padma who looked apologetic.

They all sat down to eat and Neville tried not to stew over the Dean situation too much so he could get through his dinner. Pie night was one of his favourites and he didn't want his bad mood ruining it.

When dinner was over Neville and the others were heading out of the great hall when Neville heard a voice calling out to him and he turned to find Dean standing a few feet away, looking sheepish. Neville motioned for the other boy to follow him out into the corridor where it was less crowded and headed out waiting off to the side of the room for Dean to join him.

"We'll see you back at the dorm, Nev," Cho called out as the group left him to it.

He leant back against a wall trying his darnedest not to show how nervous he was about whatever the other boy was going to say to him. Dean stopped in front of him and studied his shoes for several moments before mumbling something Neville couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry, love, I honestly didn't hear anything you just said," he told the Gryffindor who looked up from his shoes, frustration in his eyes.

"I said I'm sorry, Nev," Dean said louder this time and as much as Neville just wanted to forgive the boy and give him a hug he waited to see if there was anything else forthcoming. Dean sighed. "I know Ron and the others can be jerks sometimes, I know they don't always think before they do things and I know you're a prefect and you have a job to do. I'm sorry that I didn't give you a chance to tell your side before expecting the worst and I'm sorry I spoke to you the way I did, you didn't deserve it," he finished looking down at his shoes again. "I love you, Nev, I don't want to fight anymore," he whispered sadly.

"You know I'm not a fan of fighting either, Dean," Neville replied. "But you have to understand why I couldn't just let it go. The things your friends said and did, they were horrible, especially the comments about fairies and faggots."

"They didn't mean that the way it sounded, Ron told me. He said it probably sounded like they meant it that way and they didn't. They said sorry for the misunderstanding," Dean explained quickly.

"And so they should, although that apology should be to Harry not me. Anyway, I know that won't happen so let's shift the focus back to us. I love you, Dean, but we seem to have this terrible pattern to our relationship where whenever we fight I'm always the one to make it right, even when what we're fighting about isn't my fault. I'm not going to do that anymore, Dean, it's not fair," Neville said, putting as much conviction in his voice as he could.

"I know, you're right, I'm sorry, I'm too stubborn for my own good," Dean replied looking up at Neville with beseeching eyes. "Is the fight over now? Can I have a hug?" he asked quietly.

Neville sighed and reached forward to pull the shorter boy into his arms. Dean snuggled into him and Neville felt the stress he'd been feeling earlier melt away. He hated fighting and he was glad it was over.

XX

Over the next few weeks Draco and Neville did their best to draw Harry out of his shell. They spent the afternoons with him in the green house when they could and studied together in the library. With each day that passed Harry spoke to them a little more, he even started to feel safe enough around them to let them see him draw, although Neville still hadn't heard him sing again yet. Still he was happy with how things were going and as more of the puzzle that was Harry Potter came together the more it became apparent how much more there was to learn; and it was fun.

He hadn't had any more run-ins with the Gryffindors, but Draco told him of several times he'd caught the group bothering Harry and broke it up. They seemed to do it when Neville was spending time with Dean and therefore distracted and the sneakiness of it all pissed him off royally. He couldn't believe they'd use their friend like that.

He and Dean were doing well, their fight had been forgotten and things were back to normal. The only issue they had at the moment seemed to be that Dean was very eager to advance their relationship intimately and Neville still didn't feel like he was ready. He didn't know what it was, but something was holding him back and he couldn't seem to push it aside. They'd spoken about it and Dean understood, Neville just hoped he could get past it soon.

The other Ravenclaw and Slytherin students seemed to notice their friends' interest in Harry but hadn't commented yet. Neville was expecting that any day now, but it didn't worry him for himself he was more concerned with how the Slytherins were going to react.

Harry's confidence seemed to be growing somewhat and Neville noticed him interacting with his friends at the Hufflepuff table more that he had before. It was only a slight improvement but an improvement none the less, Neville was quite happy with his and Draco's achievement. The orchid was going well and with the full moon swiftly approaching he couldn't wait to see his flower open and reveal its colours for them to see. He had no doubt it would, it seemed positively thrilled with the care he and Harry bestowed upon it.

It was just before three in the afternoon on the day of the full moon that saw Harry and Neville walking together through the castle on their way to the greenhouse. Neville was trying to guess what colour their flower was going to be and Harry was listening to him indulgently when a noise from a nearby classroom caught Neville's attention. He paused in his conversation with Harry and stepped closer to the door trying to work out what it was he was hearing. He couldn't really make out what he was hearing but whatever was going on in there shouldn't be; the classroom was empty and not being used for anything at the moment.

Sighing at the thought of something interrupting his trip down to the greenhouse and anticipating having a very unpleasant argument with whoever it was and taking points, Neville stepped back a bit from the door and used a spell to open it and another to immediately light the candles in the room to reveal who was inside.

He immediately wished he hadn't.

He'd heard people say that when you see something truly devastating happening in front of you that time seems to slow down and it all appears to be happening in slow motion. The world around you becomes muted and you can't bring yourself to focus on anything except the awful image in front of you. He hadn't honestly believed that statement to be true, but standing in the doorway as he was now and seeing the sight presented before him, he accepted the truth of that statement as he was living it right now.

The scene was like something out of his worst nightmare. Dean, lying naked on a desk in the middle of the room with Cormac McLaggan buried balls deep in his ass, moaning and calling out the other boy's name as he thrust leisurely into his delectable body. Neville couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't believe what he was seeing and he found himself blinking several times in an attempt to try and dispel the image from in front of him. He didn't hear Harry's gasp as the other boy stepped into the doorway beside him, nor did he feel the boy's small hand reach out to gently touch his arm - something he would have considered a huge achievement had his brain been capable of processing rational thought-.

He didn't hear Draco approaching them or calling out to him either, it seemed however the pair on the table did and that finally seemed to break them out of their stupor and made them realise their little moment had been interrupted. Dean's eyes widened as his gaze met Neville's and he immediately pushed Cormac away and leapt up from the table, grabbing his pants which were on the floor and ripping them on. He was saying something but Neville couldn't hear him, nor did he feel Draco stop beside him or hear the boy's audible gasp before his arm closed around Neville in a comforting gesture. It was only when Dean starting moving toward him, his hand held out toward Neville as if beseeching him to understand, that reality finally seemed to crash back in on him. He pulled out of Draco's hold and ran as fast as he could to the Ravenclaw dorm.

He heard voices call out to him but he ignored them, he heard footsteps running behind him but he didn't care. He had to get away from everything, away from what just happened, away from it all. He was pleased to note that he arrived at the door to the dorm at the same time as a group of sixth year girls and it was already opening in front of him, allowing him to slip inside behind the group before tearing down to his room. He threw himself in and locked the door behind him, commanding the painting not to let anyone else in.

He cast a silencing spell on the room and began to pace, agitated and hurt and trying to find something, anything, to make it stop. The first thing that drew his attention was the photo on his bedside table of him and Dean, the first photo they'd taken together as a couple. Rage flooded through him at the sight of the other boy looking so happy and he immediately flung his hand out to send it crashing to the floor. The frame broke apart as it hit the hard stone, the sound, for a moment, distracting Neville enough to draw his attention away from his grief. It was only a momentary relief of course, the pain quickly returned and he searched the room for something else to break, wanting just another moment of relief. It took less than 10 minutes to completely demolish the contents of his bedroom and with nothing else to distract him all that was left for Neville to do was drop down on the floor and scream.

XX

It was two days until the weekend and he didn't leave the room for any of them. The world moved around him without his input and he let it go, happy enough not to be included. It was the beginning of December already, very soon they'd be heading home for Christmas and Neville found he couldn't wait to get on the train and be away from what had now become his own personal hell. He just wasn't sure how he'd survive until then.

According to the painting guarding his door several people had tried to visit, all his Ravenclaw friends, Draco of course and, if he wasn't mistaken, Harry once or twice. Dean hadn't been near his door, whether that was because the boy didn't have the guts to face him or the Ravenclaws had simply refused to let him in Neville didn't know, but he was glad. Someone had convinced the house elves to bring him food several times a day, probably Draco, and although he wasn't in the mood to eat much he was grateful.

When the Sunday afternoon rolled around, and he knew he'd have to go to classes the next day, he figured it was time to start talking to people again. He showered, spelled the room clean and the things he'd broken repaired and told the portrait to let the next person who came by in, as long as it wasn't a Gryffindor. At 4 that afternoon there was a knock on the door and Neville called out to the person to enter, taking a deep breath to calm himself as the door opened. He'd expected Draco, he hadn't expected Draco and Harry together, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't make him happy to see them both.

They sat with him for a while, not talking about anything of substance and absolutely not mentioning Dean for which Neville was grateful. It was a relaxing afternoon, something he needed and they ended up eating dinner together in Neville's room before heading out for the night. Before Harry left he pulled a roll of parchment out of his pocket and handed it to Neville. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but seemed to think better of it and followed Draco silently from the room. Neville watched them go, confused about what was going on. As soon as the door was shut behind his friends he sat back down on the couch and opened the parchment, gasping at the beauty of what he saw.

It was a picture, obviously drawn by Harry, of Neville, Harry and Draco standing together in the greenhouse. Neville was smiling and standing next to their plant, holding a watering can, Draco was sitting on his favourite bit of clear bench and looked like he was laughing at something. The most surprising and beautiful part of all was the true, happy smile on Harry's face as he stood on the other side of the plant, reaching out as if about to pet it. It was beautifully drawn, every detail perfect including the orchid that Harry had drawn mid dance. Written above it, in beautiful, calligraphic letters were the words, _my friends_.

Despite the horrible situation currently happening around him, Neville found himself smiling before he even realised he was doing it. Dean may have betrayed him, but his persistence had paid off and Harry had become his friend. That, if nothing else, was something positive to take away from this semester. There was a small piece of parchment that had been rolled up in the picture and he picked it up to read the words written on it in very neat handwriting.

 _Hi, Neville,_

 _I know you're not feeling so great right now and I'm sorry, I know there's nothing I can do to make it better but I wish there was. I had this in my book and Draco saw it yesterday. He seemed really happy, I'm not sure why (_ trust Harry to be clueless about that) _and he told me it would cheer you up if you saw it so I thought I'd give it to you. I know it's not very good, but I really liked it and so did Draco so I hope you do too, and I hope he's right and it does cheer you up just a little. I don't want to dampen your mood further but with everything that happened you missed the orchid opening the other night_ (disappointment flowed through Neville hot and strong. He'd been waiting for the opening for months and this stupid situation with Dean had made him miss it. He was royally cranky at himself). _Professor sprout passed us with flying colours and the flower was a truly beautiful sight._

 _I thought about drawing it for you, but I knew a drawing could never hope to match the true beauty of a plant like that, so I asked Professor Sprout if she would let us keep it rather than sending it on to another class or back to the place it came from like they usually do when we're done with them. She said, if we kept taking care of it, the flower would bloom again at the next full moon which will be the second week of the holidays. She's agreed to let you take the orchid home so you don't miss it again; I thought you'd be happy with that and I hope I'm right. Okay, I'm going to stop taking up your time now, I hope you feel better soon._

 _Harry_

The smile that had crept onto Neville's face while widened and he took the picture Harry had draw over to his bedside table. The little Hufflepuff was so lovely, so thoughtful and sweet. He'd gone to great lengths to do something as nice as keeping the orchid for Neville and it made him feel special to know Harry thought he was important enough to do that for. He propped the picture up against his lamp and looked at it again, the smile on his lips remaining strong. Friends; such a simple word but one that meant so much. He'd get a frame for the picture when he went home for Christmas, he wanted to keep it close to him always.

Knowing it was getting late and he needed to be functional for class the next day, he climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over himself. He felt the misery and betrayal trying to close in on him but he pushed it aside, focusing on Harry and Draco and the picture he could see perfectly from his position in bed. Yes Dean had betrayed him and hurt him; but his life, his future and his friends were far more important than a cheating ex ever would be. He would focus on them and the happiness they brought him and use it to get him through this awful time until he felt better again.

He settled down in bed and closed his eyes, picturing the orchid flowering under the full moon. Harry had said it as beautiful and Neville was sure it was, he couldn't wait to see it for himself. Maybe he could invite Harry and Draco over to his house for the next full moon to watch it with him, that would be fun.

XX

The following morning Neville exited his room to find his collective group of Ravenclaw friends waiting outside the door for him.

"Um ... morning," he greeted them, curious about their behaviour and they returned his greeting with happy ones of their own. They then informed him that they were going to walk him down to breakfast so he wouldn't have to go alone and ushered him out of the room. Neville chuckled to himself. His friends really could be adorable sometimes, and people said Ravenclaws weren't like that.

They arrived at breakfast and Neville's eyes astutely avoided the Gryffindor table and anyone who might be sitting there in favour of talking to his friends and eating something good for breakfast. No one mentioned the breakup which he was grateful for, but he knew all eyes in the great hall were on him. They all knew, word traveled fast at Hogwarts, and he couldn't wait for the hype over what had happened to end.

He had herbology that morning and he met Harry at the door to the great hall so they could walk down together. The walk was silent as time spent with Harry often was. Neville was used to it by now and actually found himself enjoying the quiet, especially since no one else was around to stare at him. Just before they reached the greenhouse he stopped the other boy and turned to look at him.

"The picture was amazing, and it definitely did cheer me up, thank you," he said sincerely, with a bright smile for his friend.

Harry blushed and looked down, never comfortable with these situations. "I'm glad you liked it," he mumbled softly in reply.

"And thank you, for convincing Professor Sprout to let us keep the orchid. You were right, I was disappointed that I didn't get the chance to see it bloom and I'm so happy I'll get another chance. You didn't have to do that and I appreciate it," he said, smiling even though he knew Harry was looking down and wouldn't see it. He wasn't sure how the other boy would take it, but he reached out and grabbed Harry's hands that were currently at his sides and opening and closing nervously.

Harry flinched but didn't pull away and Neville squeezed his hands softly, liking how the warm, small appendages felt in his own. "Thank you, Harry. You're a lovely person and I'm really glad we're friends," he said sincerely.

He almost didn't hear Harry's soft reply of, "Me too." but he did and it made his smile widen.

"Come on, let's keep going," he coaxed, releasing Harry's hands and continuing on the path to the green house. The smaller boy fell into step beside him, keeping his eyes glued to his feet, most likely to hide a very fierce blush.

XX

The rest of the day was uneventful, Draco joined the two of them in the greenhouse that afternoon to tend to their orchid as normal and Neville gave him a big hug, glad to see him again and telling him how grateful he was to have the blonde as a friend. Draco laughed it off, but Neville knew it made the blonde feel good to hear it. They returned to the school and headed to the library to study where Neville found his group of Ravenclaw friends already set up and working at a table next to Draco's Slytherin friends. They ended up pulling the tables together and sitting in a big group as neither wanted to forego sitting with their friends or appear to be playing favourites. It worked out well in the end because they could all share the books each group had gathered and that saved them time.

They'd been there for an hour when a hand appeared on Neville's shoulder and he looked round to see Ron and Seamus standing behind him, looking cranky.

"We want to talk to you," Ron demanded and Neville shrugged his hand off before turning back to his book.

"Oy, I'm talking to you," Ron snapped, reaching out to grab Neville again only to stop when he suddenly found several wands pointed at his face.

"Bugger off, Weasel!" Draco snapped, but rather than back down Ron just got angrier.

"I need to talk to Longbottom, this doesn't involve the rest of you," he snapped.

"And obviously he doesn't want to talk to you, so get lost," Theo snarled back.

"What, can't Longbottom fight his own battles anymore?" Seamus asked mockingly.

"You don't want to battle with me, Finnigan," Neville finally replied, turning back to look at the pair. "And the others are right, I don't want to talk to you, there's nothing you have to say that I want to hear. Now go away, we're studying!" he finished, turning back to his books.

"Dean's really upset that you haven't even bothered to talk to him about what happened," Ron said. "Weren't you the one that's always going on about getting both sides of a story before making a decision? What the hell happened to that, Longbottom? It's all right for you but not Dean?"

"Dean doesn't have a side to tell me!" Neville snapped, turning around and standing up from his chair, towering over Ron and Seamus who were much shorter than him. "He fucked Cormac, behind my back, there's no possible side to the story that doesn't come out as he cheated on me so there's nothing to say about the matter. I haven't spoke to Dean and I'm not going to. And you want to talk about not fighting your own battles, where's he right now? I don't see him here trying to plead his case!"

"He's in the Gryffindor tower too upset to get out of bed!" Seamus replied.

This would normally have upset Neville and brought out his caring side. It didn't, not today. "Good, it's exactly what he deserves for what he did to me!" he snarled instead giving the two Gryffindors his most angry glare. "Now go away, I'm busy!" he growled turning back to the table and sitting down in front of his book once more. It was only seconds later that he heard a shouted spell behind him, but before he could turn around to defend himself the spell had been deflected and Ron and Seamus sent flying back to land on the ground near the door with a thump.

The whole library had fallen silent and Neville immediately knew why as his gaze fell on Harry. The hufflepuff was standing behind his spot at the table next to Neville and holding out his still glowing wand toward the pair of Gryffindors, a look of intense anger and loathing in his lovely green eyes.

"You heard him, he told you to go away, now go away!" Harry snarled in a voice none of them recognised from the normally quiet, reserved teen. Ron and Seamus looked positively shocked, but they staggered to their feet and did as they were told, backing out of the room and running off down the corridor.

"Wow, Potter, that was amazing!" one of the Ravenclaws exclaimed but Harry didn't answer and when he lowered his wand hand Neville could see that it was shaking. He thought maybe Harry had been scared by what he did, but one look at the Hufflepuff's face showed that he was angry, really angry.

"Harry, are you all right?" Neville asked softly, reaching out to touch Harry's hand. The contact seemed to snap Harry out of whatever mood he was riding and he turned to look at Neville, a look of confusion momentarily filling his beautiful green eyes before it was replaced by anxiety and fear.

"Um ... I have to go," the boy stuttered before grabbing his bag from under his chair and racing out of the library faster than Neville had ever seen anyone move in his life.

"Harry, wait!" Neville called and both he and Draco leapt out of their chairs to follow the Hufflepuff. They reached the corridor and stopped when there was no sign of the other boy. Where the hell had he gone so quickly?

"What just happened?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea," Neville replied, worried about his friend. They searched the corridor for several minutes before giving up and heading dejectedly back to the library where their other friends were waiting. Harry wasn't at dinner and try as he might Neville couldn't seem to find him anywhere for the next several days. On the Thursday afternoon, after tending to the orchid alone with Draco, the pair of them headed to the Hufflepuff common room to see if they could find Harry anywhere. There were several girls on their way out of the door as they arrived and the pair quickly asked them about Harry and whether he was about.

"Harry had to go home early," one of the young girls told them. "Professor Sprout came to the dorm to get some things for him the other day and said he wouldn't be back until next semester."

"Did she say why?" Neville asked worriedly.

"No, she just said something had come up and his mother was coming to get him early," another of the girls replied.

"Did she say if he was okay?" Draco asked.

"No, sorry, she wouldn't really talk about it," the first girl replied and the pair thanked the girls for their time before heading away from the common room. Tomorrow was the last day of classes before they got on the train to go home, if Harry had really been sent home early for some reason they wouldn't have any contact with him until the following semester because neither of them had his address.

"What do you think happened?" Neville asked softly.

"Do you think the Gryffindors got him into trouble?" Draco asked back.

"Surely it couldn't be that," Neville disagreed. "They pull more crap than that on a regular day and they didn't send me home for throwing Ron into a vegetable patch. Something's wrong, I can feel it, I just don't know what it is."

"Should we go and ask Dumbledore?" Draco asked.

"Do you really think he'll tell us anything?" Neville asked incredulously.

"He might at least be able to tell us if Harry's all right," Draco suggested.

"Do you honestly think he would?" Neville asked.

Draco sighed. "No, probably not," he replied sadly.

XX

In the end they tried talking to Dumbledore but the Headmaster refused to say anything about it. Draco asked Professor Snape but the man didn't know anything about it either. They approached Professor Sprout and asked her, but she was as tight lipped as the Headmaster. In the end, at a loss of what else to do, they gave the head of Hufflepuff a letter from each of them, containing their addresses and asking Harry to please write to them and asked her to send them since they both knew the woman wasn't going to give them the other boy's address. She agreed with a soft smile for the pair of them and they headed back up to their dorms to pack.

XX

End of Chapter

So what do we think? The Plot thickens and the Harry mystery deepens further. I know a lot of you have been curious about why Harry is like he is and some of the theories have been interesting, but it's half the plot of this story so I can't give too much away too quickly, sorry. Also if anyone is interested I've made a facebook page to keep you all updated on the stories. I know on it's hard to keep track of things because there's no follow option, so if you want to look me up I'm under Kayla Dark and my email address is darkdancerkayla . Happy to answer any questions you have on there, especially as I can't reply to reviews on . Anyway looking forward to seeing you on there. Please review and let me know what you think, it really does inspire me to write and post faster knowing the story is being enjoyed. Sorry for those I haven't replied to, I've had two kids three days this week and town the other two so not a lot of free time.

See you again soon.

Love to all,

Kayla


	4. Chapter 4

Hi again, here's our new chapter of What If. There will be a few questions answered and even more questions posed. Sorry, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

The Holidays

It was the day before Christmas and Neville had been home for a week. He hadn't heard a thing from Harry and he was more than a little worried about the other boy. It was odd really, he was sad about the whole Dean situation but he found himself missing Harry more than he missed his ex boyfriend and he wasn't sure why. Was it because Dean had cheated on him and therefore ruined Neville's opinion of him or was it something else entirely? He didn't know and he really wasn't in the mood to analyse it, he just wanted to see the Hufflepuff and make sure he was okay.

He was heading downstairs to spend some time with the orchid when a beautiful, snow white owl swooped down over his head and dropped a rolled up parchment into his hands. It continued flying so obviously wasn't waiting for an answer and Neville, hoping desperately that it would be from Harry, pulled open the seal and unrolled the parchment to find a meticulously hand drawn picture of one of the most beautiful gardens Neville had ever seen. He admired it only a moment before pulling the letter out from behind the picture and reading it.

 _Dear Neville,_

 _I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get back to you I've been unwell. I read your letter as soon as it arrived. I was so happy to hear from you, but it took me a while to get well enough to write back and again I'm sorry. I also want to say sorry about the other day, in the library, I hope I didn't freak you and the others out too much. I know I must have seemed a bit odd to you, out of character and all, I promise it won't happen again._

 _How are you going? Have your holidays been good? Are you going okay with the whole Dean issue? Ron and Seamus coming up to you in the library like that was so horrible, I wanted to make sure you were okay with all of that but ... I'm sorry I wasn't there the last week, I wish I could tell you why but I'm afraid I can't, I'm not allowed to talk about it. I'm all right though, I'm sorry I worried you but I'm fine. Your letter was really nice and it made me smile, thank you. I know you've probably already seen the picture I sent you, I hope you like it. It's my favourite section of the botanical gardens that's close to my house and I thought you'd like it. Maybe I'll be able to show it to you one day ... if you want._

 _Anyway I should go. I'm glad I got to send this to you before Christmas since that's what it is, a Christmas present. I'm sorry it's not much. I was going to buy you something nice, but with the sickness I didn't get time, sorry. I hope you have a great Christmas, Neville, I hope you're not too upset with me and I'm looking forward to seeing you next semester._

 _Take care,_

 _Harry_

Neville placed the letter down and looked at the picture again. The trees were drawn so perfectly they almost looked alive, except they weren't coloured. He searched through the pile of paper again and was pleased to find Harry's address written on the back of the page the letter was written on. He was happy about that, it meant he could send Harry letters back as well as the Christmas present he'd gotten the other boy. Unfortunately it didn't shift the nagging worry he was feeling about what had been wrong with Harry. He'd said he'd been sick, but with what? Was it something he'd had before? Something serious that he might get again? He hated not knowing, it gave him no end of worry.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he ran down to the fireplace. He knelt down in front of it right as it flared to life and Draco's face appeared in the flames.

"Did you hear from Harry?" Draco asked upon spotting Neville in front of the fire.

"Yeah I did, did he send you a picture?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, it's amazing too," Draco replied. "Did he give you his address as well?" he asked.

"Yeah he did. I'm going to write back to him now and send him his Christmas present but I wanted to make sure you got a letter too. I guess you beat me to it," Neville said with a chuckle.

Draco chuckled back, "Yeah, I guess I did." The laughter died down and he became sombre all of a sudden. "Did he tell you what was wrong with him?" he asked.

"No, he just said he'd been sick," Neville replied.

"Yeah, same, I wonder what's wrong," Draco said, sounding worried and thoughtful.

"I don't know," Neville replied, sure he sounded as down as Draco looked. "I'm going to go and write back to Harry. Do you want to come over tonight, my parents are going out?" he asked.

"Mine too. Sure that'd be good," Draco replied. "I'll floo over around 6?" he asked.

"All right, see you then."

"Bye."

The floo call shut off and Neville headed upstairs to write to Harry. The letter wasn't too long since he wanted to send it back ASAP, but he told Harry that he was really happy to hear from him, he wasn't at all frightened by him that day in the library and he was worried about his health. He told him he hoped he was okay and was looking forward to seeing him again as well as inviting him to come over any time during the holidays if he was feeling up to it.

He shrunk Harry's present and attached it to the letter. He'd bought the other boy a new book to draw in with pages that were spelled to be unbreakable. He could pull them out if he wanted to, but if the stupid Gryffindors got a hold of his book again they wouldn't be able to actually cause any damage to the things he'd drawn and written.

The book itself was leather on the outside and he'd had Harry's initials embossed on the front in gold letters. It looked amazing and Neville was really happy with it; he hoped Harry liked it too. He knew Draco was sending Harry a set of expensive, high quality drawing pencils. There was a box of just plain charcoal pencils as well as another of coloured pencils that could be used as normal pencils or wet and used as water colours if Harry wanted. Neville thought the two presents would go well together and he hoped Harry agreed.

He sent his letter and the present off with his owl and headed downstairs to the greenhouse to tend to his orchid. There was no way he was going to miss the flower blooming again.

XX

The day at last arrived for them to return to Hogwarts and Neville was positive he'd never been so eager to get on the train. He'd received several letters from Harry throughout the rest of the holidays, the one right after he'd sent the boy his Christmas present full of thank you's and telling him over and over again how much he loved the book. Apparently Draco received something similar. Harry hadn't been able to come out unfortunately, but he promised he'd be at the station ready to get on the train and head back to school. Draco and Neville found each other quickly as they always did - Draco's parents were impossible to miss with that hair. They gave each other a quick hug and exchanged pleasantries with the other's parents before searching around for any sign of Harry.

When at last they spotted him it was actually due to Neville's mother spying Harry's mother's hair. Neville and Draco crossed the distance quickly and as soon as they were in front of Harry, whose eyes lit up beautifully at seeing them, Neville couldn't stop himself from sweeping the smaller boy into his arms and holding him tightly.

"It's so good to see you," he told the Hufflepuff as he felt Harry's arms slip tentatively around him in return. "We were so worried about you."

"It's good to see you too," Harry replied softly. "I'm sorry for worrying you." His arms felt wonderful around Neville's neck and if he could he would have held the hufflepuff for a lot longer. He knew he shouldn't though, he was sure he'd already confused the hell out of Harry and everyone else on the platform not to mention himself. Why was he so desperate to hold Harry? Yes he'd missed him a lot but still...

He pulled back and gave Harry a smile before moving away and allowing Draco to say hello. The blonde gave Harry a hug as well and told Harry he was happy to see him and not to ever be out of contact that long again. Harry smiled, promised not to be and turned to introduce them to his mother who was standing behind him, watching the exchange in silence.

"Guys this is my mother, Lilly Potter. Mum this is Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom," Harry introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you both. Harry's been talking nonstop about you all holidays," Lilly greeted them both with a smile.

"You mean he has that capacity? I thought he only had a 20 word quota per day," Draco said teasingly. Harry blushed and looked away, prompting the others to chuckle at his embarrassment.

"Harry's always been a quiet child but he does talk a little more when he's at home," Lilly told them with a smile. Just then Neville felt a touch on his shoulder and he looked back to see his and Draco's parents standing behind them.

"Lilly, it's nice to see you again," Neville's mum greeted the red haired woman with a warm smile. Lilly smiled back, although Neville could see it was slightly nervous.

"It's nice to see you too, Alice. Hello, Frank, Mr and Mrs Malfoy, nice to see you again" she greeted the parents politely before turning to face Harry again. "Do you have everything?" she asked grasping his shoulders gently.

"I do," Harry replied.

"Okay. Remember, if you need anything you let me know right away, all right." Harry nodded and Lilly smiled. "I love you," she said softly and leant forward to kiss him on the forehead before pulling him into a hug. Harry hugged her back and gave her a smile when she pulled back.

"I'll see you soon," he said.

"Yes you will. Have fun," she said before turning back to Neville and Draco. "It was nice to meet you both, enjoy your new semester," she said with a warm smile for them both before bidding them and their parents farewell and heading out of the station.

"We'd best get on the train," Draco told them and Neville and Harry both nodded. He and Draco turned to say goodbye to their parents and it was only when Neville hugged Frank that the man reminded him he hadn't introduced them to Harry yet.

"Oh, sorry of course, mum, dad, this is Harry," he said motioning to the slight Hufflepuff boy who smiled shyly and waved.

"It's nice to meet you, Harry," Frank greeted holding out his hand to shake. Harry shook his hand nervously before doing the same to Alice and then Draco introduced Harry to his parents. They weren't as welcoming as Neville's parents, but the Malfoy parents weren't really warm with anyone except each other and Draco, the blonde had told him that the first time he'd met them. Harry shook their hands, told them it was nice to meet them and then the group headed onto the train. They found a compartment quickly enough and Neville helped Harry put all his things up in the overhead storage. He got the orchid sorted in its temperature controlled container, then they all sat down and waited for the train to depart.

It didn't take long before they were on their way and they began talking about their holidays and how they'd been. Harry pulled the book Neville had given him out of the little book bag he'd left down from the overhead storage and showed them both the picture he'd started drawing with the pencils Draco had given him. It was another section of the botanical gardens near Harry's house, the main sketch was already finished and Harry was just about to start colouring it in and testing the water colour aspect of the pencils. He thanked them both again for the presents and they thanked him in return for theirs. Neville had placed his in a frame and put it up on his wall. Draco's was in his study on his desk.

After about an hour the compartment door opened and Hermione's head appeared around the door. "Ah, there you are, we've been looking for you," she said before opening the door the rest of the way and walking in, Padma, Cho and Theo following close behind. "It's good to see you," she said coming over to hug Neville who smiled in greeting and hugged her back. The others all gave Neville greeting hugs of their own then turned to say hello to Draco and Harry.

"Now, we know you and Draco have been friends forever and you've been making friends with Harry, that's cool, but we don't feel like being left out anymore," Theo told him matter of factly. "So we decided to crash your compartment and get to know Draco and Harry better and here we are. Hi, how is everybody?" he asked.

Neville was surprised but not unpleasantly. He motioned for them to sit down on the other side across from him, Draco and Harry and they did so, making themselves comfortable. It was a good thing the compartments were big and that Harry, Cho and Hermione were small or they would have had a hard time fitting. They'd just gotten settled when the door opened again and this time it was Draco's friends who'd decided to do much the same as the Ravenclaws, not liking the lack of time they got to spend with Draco lately.

Somehow they all managed to fit in the small compartment, but it meant being a little squished. Neville ended up against the window, Harry next to him, Draco next to Harry and the three of them were pressed rather close together. Draco and Neville had always been okay in each other's personal space, they'd been friends long enough for it not to bother them. Neither of them had been this close to Harry, however, aside from their earlier hug. While it didn't seem to effect Draco at all, and Harry was unreadable as always, Neville found the contact with Harry just a little too pleasant. What was going on with him? Harry was his friend, and yes he was happy to see the hufflepuff again, but this was a little much surely.

He tried to distract himself by listening to the others talk about their holidays but he was acutely aware of every move Harry made for the rest of their trip to Hogwarts.

XX

They settled back into their routine easily enough, Harry and Draco spending their afternoons with Neville in the green house tending to the orchid before heading back up to the castle to study. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws were with them during their study most of the time now however and Neville had to admit he liked that they were all getting along and taking the time to get to know Draco, himself and Harry.

Harry was like he'd been with Neville and Draco for the first little while, not saying a lot. The others in the group quickly got used to him however and did their best to include him and get to know him, it made Neville proud. The Wednesday after they returned to Hogwarts was the full moon, Harry had miscalculated when he'd told Neville it was during the holidays in his letter, which Neville was actually happy about as it meant they could watch the flower open together. Harry, Neville and Draco headed outside together after dinner, with Professor Sprout's permission, to wait for the flower to open.

They found an area of grass where the moonlight was unobscured and the area as flat as possible. They placed the orchid down on the ground and sat back to wait for it to bloom. It didn't take long for the orchid to react to the full moons light and after only a few minutes its dance started to become more pronounced. The three of them watched in awe as it swayed and twisted around itself, spreading out further and further from the pot and actually becoming taller as the dance progressed. Finally, with a wave and a flourish, the petals unfurled and spread out wide, like arms opening to embrace the moonlight. As they watched, the petals, like the stem, lengthened and thickened and by the time it was open fully the plant was more than twice its original size with a flower that was almost a metre wide and just as high.

It was magnificent. The flower itself was bright yellow in the middle, changing to green and finally a bright blue as it reached its edges. The tips of the flowers were black, almost as if they'd been dipped in paint and the stem had darkened to an almost purple colour. Neville looked at the flower in awe, amazed beyond words by its beauty. He moved to stand next to the plant and as if sensing his presence it lowered its flower and appeared to be looking at him.

"It's beautiful!" he exclaimed happily as the others moved to stand beside him. The flower swung to look at Harry then finally to look at Draco before beginning a new dance for them to watch. Neville turned to thank Harry for saving the orchid so he'd have a chance to see this, but was floored by the look of wonder he could see on the other boy's face. He was like a child seeing Honeydukes for the first time and Neville had never found anything so endearing in his life. Harry was so beautiful, how had that thought not occurred to him before now?

As if sensing his gaze Harry turned and looked at him, the wonder still present in his gorgeous eyes, but mixed with curiosity. Knowing he had to say something fast Neville thought about why he'd been looking at Harry in the first place and whispered. "Thank you for this, I never would have had the chance to see it if it weren't for you."

"You're welcome," Harry replied with a warm smile, turning back to look at the orchid who was still dancing for them. They stayed out there with it for hours before both them and the flower seemed to tire. They took her back to the greenhouse to sleep before heading up to their own dorms to do the same.

As Neville lay in his bed that night he couldn't get the image of Harry's face out of his head. Why had it struck him so? It wasn't like he hadn't always noticed Harry was beautiful, what had changed? He was too tired to think about it right then and decided to ponder more over it when he had more energy. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, images of Harry and dancing orchids filling his head.

XX

End of chapter

So what did we think? Did you like the orchid? I could picture it so clearly in my head, I hope you can too. So More questions. I'm looking forward to seeing the theories you come up with as to what's going on with Harry. Feel free to let me know what you think and of course if you want to find me on facebook just look for Kayla Dark or darkdancerkayla . See you soon xxoo


	5. Chapter 5

Hello everyone, here's your update. I have had my nephew for three days this week so no time at all to do any writing, hence no updates until now. So here is the new chapter, let me know what you think and make sure you read the end notes, there's a question there for you.

Evil Gryffindors

It was a week after the full moon that it happened. He and Draco headed down to the greenhouse to tend to the newest herbology project, the singing persimmons, and waited for Harry but he never came. An hour later, when there was still no sign of him, they returned to the school to look for him. He wasn't in the library or the great hall and when they went to the Hufflepuff common room it was to find out that he hadn't been there since he'd left that morning. Asking around none of their friends or his had seen him anywhere and Neville started to really worry.

They went to see Professor Sprout who agreed that something wasn't quite right and called a meeting with the headmaster to see if he'd seen Harry anywhere. While she was doing that Neville and Draco rounded up their friends, as well as all the Hufflepuffs in Harry's year - they were definitely a helpful lot - and sent them out in search of the boy. Their search of the school grounds turned up nothing and when the teachers suddenly arrived outside to join them, Neville knew something was terribly wrong.

The school was combed with no sign of Harry and when night time fell the teachers sent them all inside for dinner. Neville didn't want to go, neither did Draco or any of the other students, but they were given no choice in the matter. It was as Neville was trudging into the Great Hall, his worry for Harry making him feel far too ill to even consider eating, that his eyes wandered to the Gryffindor table and Ron who was sitting over with his group, looking just a little too smug.

He didn't know what possessed him in that moment, but before he could even think about it he'd crossed the room, yanked Ron out of his chair, thrown him against the wall and had his wand held up to his face. "Where's Harry?" he demanded angrily.

"What the hell makes you think I know?" Ron snarled back, sounding just as angry.

"Because Harry's missing and you're sitting over here looking far too gleeful. Because you hate Harry and are always trying to do horrible things to him when no one's looking. Because you're a fucking asshole of a Gryffindor who thinks that because you're part of the same house as Dumbledore and he gives you special treatment that makes you better than everyone else and gives you the right to do whatever you want to whoever you want. I know you know where he is so tell me, now!" Neville shouted, completely ignoring the attention of the entire great hall that was now focused on him.

Ron's look turned smug, "No," he replied simply. "That little freak should never have come here in the first place and he deserves what he got."

Anger burnt through Neville and it took every ounce of strength he possessed not to hex Ron right where he stood. "Tell me!" he demanded through clenched teeth.

"I have to admit we were quite lucky really. I mean after you broke up with Dean we had nobody to keep you occupied while we went after him and with Malfoy on the case too, as well as the other friends he seems to be accumulating by some strange miracle, we never thought we'd get the chance to nab him at all. But then there he was, all alone like he used to be, the opportunity was just too good to waste," Ron said, with so much self satisfaction that Neville couldn't stop himself from punching the smug bastard in the face. The sound of Ron's nose cracking under Neville's fist echoed through the room and he fell to the ground with blood pouring from the broken proboscis.

With Ron down for now Neville turned his attention to the rest of the Gryffindor group who were looking at their fallen friend in shock. None of them had moved and glancing around the table he realised it was because Draco, his Slytherin friends and Neville's Ravenclaw friends had surrounded them. "Anybody else want to tell me where you took Harry, or will there be a repeat performance?" he asked, pointing his wand at the group of Gryffindors.

"We don't know," Seamus immediately replied.

Neville moved to grab him out of his chair but Dean spoke this time. "He's serious, Neville we really don't know. We helped Ron grab him and all, but we didn't see where he took him, he went off without us."

Neville levelled his glare at the boy he'd once cared for. "Then which direction did he go in? Did he mention anything that might help? Tell me!" Neville demanded.

"He took him into the forbidden forest," A voice piped up from further down the table and they all turned to see Astoria Greengrass, who'd just entered the great hall, covered in twigs. "I tried to follow him but I got lost. I can take you to where I lost him though, if that'll help," the brunette offered.

Neville cast a body-bind spell on the group of Gryffindors and followed the girl out of the great hall, his friends close behind. They met up with the teachers, who'd been absent from dinner due to their search for Harry, and told them what they knew. They then ran on with Astoria leading the way, not waiting to hear what the professors had to say. After 10 minutes they reached an open area and Astoria told them she'd lost him there. The group, which Neville was surprised to note had grown to include the Hufflepuff fifth and sixth years and even a few Gryffindors, split up into pairs and headed out in several directions, calling out to Harry.

Neville and Draco walked together, lumos spells glowing from the ends of their wands, calling out Harry's name. He tried not to let the feeling of hopelessness overwhelm him as he thought about just how big the forest was and how long it could take to search it all. He had to find Harry, he just had to, the thought of never seeing the other boy again hurt far too much to comprehend.

He saw several blue, misty creatures spreading out into the forest and shook his head at his own stupidity. Without another thought he cast a patronus, as did Draco, and they leapt away in front of them to cover more ground.

More than an hour they'd been searching before they heard an odd noise nearby. Moving to investigate they rounded a corner and froze. A giant spider was standing half against a tree, its body covering that of something else and its stinger stuck into said thing's stomach. Neville knew it was Harry, even without seeing him properly. His blood ran cold in fear for the other boy at the same time as an intense anger pulsed through him and without thinking he cast an expelliamus which send the creature flying back from Harry and into a nearby tree.

Neville ran over to the boy, whose body was tied to the tree. His skin was pale, his eyes were open but seemingly unseeing and his body was completely limp. The Spider's stinger had broken off its body when Neville shot at it and it was still sticking out of Harry's stomach. Neville felt tears sting his eyes as he gently felt for a pulse in Harry's neck. He found it, weak as it was, and he sobbed in relief, immediately checking to see if the Hufflepuff was breathing, which again he was but it was shallow. Draco, who'd been checking on the spider to make sure it wasn't coming back, lifted his wand and sent flares and fireworks up into the sky so everyone knew they'd found him. Neville didn't know what to do, but he knew with stings and venom he wasn't supposed to move the person, so he didn't untie Harry, waiting for someone to arrive who might know more than him.

He stood next to Harry while he was waiting and gently stroked the boy's face. "Harry, if you can hear me, we're here, we found you, help's on its way and you're going to be all right." More tears slipped from Neville's eyes and he bit back another sob. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you, I'm so sorry," he whispered, wishing he could hold the boy but knowing he couldn't. Instead he watched the slow rise and fall of Harry's chest and prayed for it to keep going.

The professors found them soon after and Neville moved out of the way so Madame Pomphrey and Professor Snape could do their work. Draco came over to him and wrapped his arm around Neville, whispering to him that it was going to be okay; although Neville knew the blonde was as worried as him. He vaguely saw Hagrid run over to the dead spider, sobbing and blubbering over its carcass, but he paid it no attention. A thing like that should not be in a school, even if the spider itself was out in the forest students weren't supposed to enter. He had no sympathy at all for the giant, but he hoped there was a consequence for the man's stupidity.

XX

Harry was exceptionally lucky, they were told later that night. The spider's venom was only designed to paralyse its victims in preparation for being eaten. He'd had a hefty dose and would need a few days to recover properly, but he would. Neville was relieved beyond words to hear it. He wanted to stay with Harry overnight, but was forced by Madame Pomphrey to leave. Lilly arrived at the hospital wing as Neville and Draco were being kicked out, having only just been informed Harry was missing after he'd been found, which Neville was sure she was none too thrilled about. Neville was relieved to know at least someone would be there to keep an eye on Harry overnight.

Lilly thanked them sincerely for finding him before running over to Harry's side. The last thing Neville saw before the doors to the medical wing closed behind him was Lilly sitting on the side of her son's bed. He followed Draco out of the room and down the corridor, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the otherwise silent castle. When they reached the staircase that would lead Neville up to his dorm and Draco down to his, the blonde boy stopped him and reached forward to pull him into a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly.

"Yeah, are you?" Neville asked in return.

"Yeah," Draco replied, rubbing Neville's back gently before pulling back to look at him. "Then again as much as I love Harry as a friend, I'm not the one in love with him," he said, with so much sympathy it made Neville tear up all over again.

"Is that what I am? Because I really don't know," Neville whispered tearfully to his friend.

"Yeah, it is," Draco assured him. "It's okay if it takes you a while to work through the reality of what's happening to you, Merlin knows it must be a difficult realisation and you've not long broken up with Dean. But you are in love with Harry, I can see it."

Neville nodded, trusting his friend's words. Draco knew him better than anyone else in the world. If he said it, it was probably true.

"I'll see you in the morning okay," Draco said, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze before heading down in the direction of the dungeons. Neville watched him got for a few moments before heading up the staircase to his own dorm. Was Draco right? Is that why he'd been so keen to touch Harry? He never thought his feeling for Harry were like that, but Draco had never been wrong before. He lay down in his bed, his mind full of every moment he'd spent with Harry, analysing every thought and feeling he'd had the whole time they'd been friends. Eventually he fell into a restless sleep, his mind still far too full to settle.

XX

Neville was up very early the next morning and while he felt like he'd barely slept he couldn't go back to sleep, his mind was wide awake. He showered and threw his clothes on - it was a weekend so no school robes necessary - and headed down to the hospital wing. He met Draco in the hallway and the pair greeted each other tiredly.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Neville asked.

"No, barely a wink," Draco replied, rubbing his eyes. "Heading down to see Harry?" he asked as they started walking again.

"Yeah. I know they said he was going to be fine but I'm still worried," Neville replied.

"I know, me too. How are you feeling after last night's revelation?"

Neville sighed, "I don't know. You're right, I know you are, I think it's just taking my brain a while to catch up with everything. It definitely explains how I've been feeling lately though, it was just confusing because it's different to how I felt about Dean."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Draco replied. "I didn't think you and he were right together from the start and I think somewhere, deep down, you knew it too. He wasn't good for you, I think Harry would be."

"You're probably right. Now I just have to work out what to do about it," Neville said, feeling lost.

"Give yourself some time, you'll work it out," Draco assured him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks," Neville replied as they reached the door to the hospital wing and ducked their heads inside. Madame Pomphrey was over at her desk talking quietly with Lilly, so Draco and Neville snuck over to Harry's bedside while they weren't looking. They took up chairs on opposite sides of his bed and reached out to take a hand each. Madame Pomphrey had closed Harry's eyes so he wouldn't be able to see them, even if he was still somehow conscious in there, so Neville squeezed his hand and spoke to him instead.

"Hi, Harry, how are you doing this morning? I'm sure it must be frightening and frustrating, not being able to move or speak. We wanted to stay with you last night, but they sent us back to our rooms. Sorry about that, but at least your mum was here so you weren't alone." Neville stopped to think for a second. It was usually hard to carry on a conversation with someone who didn't talk back, but Harry had been a boy of so few words since the beginning of their friendship that he was used to it now. "I know it's probably not much of a consolation to you now, but I punched Ron in the face for you yesterday. I think I broke his nose. It's such a shame you didn't get to see him crying and howling like a baby, but it was damn enjoyable. I body bound the others and left them on the floor of the great hall too. I wonder if anyone let them go in the end," he thought the last part out loud, shooting a questioning look at Draco.

The blonde shrugged, "If they're still there it serves them right, although I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't leave his precious Gryffindors on the floor."

"True," Neville agreed. "Oh yes, Draco's here too, he's holding your other hand," Neville told Harry.

"Hi, Harry," Draco greeted, squeezing the hand he was holding. "I hope you're feeling okay in there."

"Boys, what are you doing here?" Madame Pomphrey's voice drew their attention to the medi-witch, who was fast approaching with Lilly.

"We couldn't sleep and we wanted to see Harry," Draco replied, using the face Neville recognised as the one he used to use on his parents when he wanted something from them as a child. It was very hard not to laugh.

"Well, all right. But make sure you go down to breakfast, you both need your strength," she ordered sternly.

They both agreed and Neville asked how Harry was doing.

"Still the same as last night, but his body is working through the venom with the help of the potion Professor Snape gave him. Two more days and he should be back to his old self," the Medi-witch explained.

"Have you worked out if he can hear or feel anything?" Neville asked.

"Unfortunately we're still not sure about that, boys," she replied and Neville nodded, figuring that would be her answer.

"Hello, boys, it's nice to see you again," Lilly greeted them, perching herself on the side of Harry's bed. They both greeted her back politely. "I'm glad you've come to visit him, it's nice to know he has friends who care so much. I'm sure he'll be grateful," she said with a smile, although it didn't reach her eyes. Neville could understand that. He was worried about Harry, she must be beside herself.

He was about to ask her if she was all right when the doors to the hospital wing opened and Neville's parents walked in, followed by the headmaster.

"Mum, dad, what are you doing here?" he asked, moving to give them both a hug of greeting.

"The headmaster contacted us and asked us to come to the school; it seems he has something to discuss with us," his father explained, looking more than a little cranky. Neville had a few ideas about what the headmaster might like to discuss with them.

"If you'll come with me, Mr Longbottom," Dumbledore directed and headed out of the room, Neville's parents following close behind. Neville shared a knowing look with Draco and followed after them.

The walk to the headmaster's office was a silent one and when they arrived it was to see Ron sitting in a chair in front of the Headmaster's desk, his nose still rather bruised. His parents were standing behind him looking rather cross, but Neville wasn't sure whether it was at him or Ron. Dumbledore invited Neville to sit down, which Neville did in a chair as far away as he could get from Ron while still being in front of the Headmaster's desk. He felt his parents move to stand behind his chair and his mother's hand came to rest gently on his shoulder.

"Now, I have called you all here to discuss an incident that occurred last night in the great hall. One that involved My Longbottom punching Mr Weasley," Dumbledore began and Neville almost smiled; he knew that's what this would be about. There were sounds of outrage from both sets of parents, but Dumbledore quickly quietened them. "Would you boys like to tell us what happened? Perhaps you first Mr Weasley."

Neville sat in the chair, silently fuming, as Ron whinged and carried on about how Neville had given him a hard time several times that year, and this wasn't the first time he'd hurt him, and how he'd just attacked him out of nowhere for no reason at all and blah blah blah. Neville refused to look at him, he knew if he did the asshole would end up with more than a broken nose. When at last Ron was done and his parents' faces looked as red as their hair Dumbledore asked Neville to give his side of the story. He turned to address the Weasley parents rather than Dumbledore.

"Your son it a bully, a liar, a low life and since last night, an attempted murderer. He bullies anyone who's not in Gryffindor, particularly Harry Potter who has done absolutely nothing to deserve his cruelty except exist. He says I sent him flying into a pumpkin patch, and yes I did, after he hung Harry upside down, called him names and destroyed his property. An attack that I know from others who have witnessed them was not a once off. His entire Hogwarts career has been a mixture of cruelty towards other houses, something I have had to try and remedy in an attempt to protect other students since Dumbledore keeps sweeping his behaviour under a rug because he's a Gryffindor."

"Now wait just a minute, Mr Longbottom-" Dumbledore attempted to interrupt but Neville spoke over him.

"No, I will not wait! I had to listen to that lying ass over there go on and on about me without making a sound and now it's my turn to talk. I know you don't like it, but I will tell the truth since you are obviously not going to." he turned to address the Weasleys again. "Last night your son strapped Harry Potter to a tree in the middle of the forbidden forrest and left him there as prey to whatever may come across him. He was attacked by an insanely huge spider - that as far as I'm concerned should not be in a school!-" Here he gave a pointed look to Dumbledore. "And nearly eaten alive. He's in the medical wing now still paralysed from that creature's venom and probably won't come out of it for several days. Your son caused that, and you want to drag me in here and tell me off for punching the arrogant, self important rat of a creature when he wouldn't tell me where Harry was so I could save him?"

The room had fallen into silence. The Weasley parents looked pale, Ron looked even paler. Dumbledore looked calm, though his eyes were anything but, and Neville didn't dare look at his own parents.

"If you want to punish me for hitting him you go right ahead. I don't regret what I did and I would do it again, it's far better than he deserves for the way he behaves. At least I didn't stake him out to a tree to be eaten alive. Oh and since Dumbledore will probably not do so himself, I will be making sure to let Lilly know the truth about what happened to her son. I suggest one of you do so before I do."

Neville sat back then, too angry to speak any further. He felt two hands come to rest on his shoulders, the weight helping him to calm down from his anger as it had done when he was a child.

"Do you expect my son to be punished for what he's done?" his father asked from behind him and he knew the anger in the man's voice wasn't directed at him.

"Well, he did break a school rule and-"

"No … no let him go," Molly's voice interrupted Dumbledore's reply, the Weasley Matriarch looking as if she may faint any moment. "He shouldn't be punished for that."

Not wanting to remain in the room any longer Neville pushed out of his chair and stalked out of the office, his parents close behind.

"Neville, slow down sweetheart," His mother's voice made him pause at the bottom of the stairs.

"I can't, mum, I need to walk this off," Neville explained, knowing that if he sat still right now the anger would just continue to fester inside him.

"All right then, let's take a walk," his father suggested and motioned for Neville to lead the way. Neville headed in the direction of an exit, wanting some fresh air. He really loved his parents, they'd always been happy to help him no matter what he needed. Walking had been his father's way of blowing off steam and he'd passed it on to Neville growing up. It didn't matter how old Neville was, if he needed a walk to calm down one or both of his parents always went with him, a calming presence in case he needed to talk out his worries.

Twenty minutes later his anger had finally run it's course. Neville stopped walking beside the great lake and sat down on a nearby rock.

"Are you okay now, honey?" his mother asked, sitting down beside him.

Neville shook his head. He wasn't okay, he was so messed up in the head right now and he didn't know what to do, what to think.

"Talk to us, Nev," his father coaxed softly and Neville was surprised at the tears that immediately sprung into his eyes.

"I thought he was going to die," he told them both softly. "He wasn't moving, he was barely breathing and he was …" tears started to get the better of him and his mother's arm slipped around his shoulders. "There was nothing I could do, I just had to wait and … and do nothing. I was so scared."

"Of course you were, Nev," his father said, moving to sit down on his other side and running a soothing hand up and down his back. "He's your friend, you were bound to be worried about him."

Neville snuggled into his parents, allowing the tears to fall. He liked having them around, he always missed them when he was at school.

Once he'd calmed down he waved his wand over his face to clean it of all traces of tears.

"Are you okay now?" His mother asked.

"Yeah, thanks," he replied softly.

"Something's still bothering you though, Nev, do you want to talk about it?" his dad asked.

Neville smiled, trust his dad to notice. "No, not yet, I'm still getting my head around it myself. I will though, when I've sorted it in my own brain; I may need your advice."

"Of course, we're always here for you, sweetheart," Alice reminded him gently.

"I know, thank you," he said, wrapping an arm around each of them and smiling when he became the filling in a cuddle sandwich.

"So now that we've talked that out, let's discuss punching Ronald Weasley in the face and why you shouldn't do that again," his father said, although he did sound oddly happy about Neville's actions now that he knew the reason why.

XX

End of chapter

Poor Harry, the Gryffindors are so evil. I hadn't set out for this to be an anti Dumbledore story and it's not really going to be, I just don't like all the things he let the Gryffindors get away with and I doubt the rest of the school like it either. I also didn't want to make the Weasleys bad people. Ron's a bully, but like most bullies he's all talk and not really out to kill anyone, He intended for Harry to be stuck out there all night but he didn't realise just how dangerous the forbidden forrest was, having not had the adventures he had with Harry in the books. His character is a prat but not a murderous one. Anyway Neville knows what he's feeling now and he just has to process it. We'll see more of that next chapter. As for those who have gotten it in their head that Harry, Neville and Draco were going to be in a three way relationship that was never my intention for this story. Still, if enough of you want to see it end up that way review and let me know, I might just change the outcome of the story.

Till next time

Kayla


	6. Chapter 6

Hellooooooo! Long time no see and very sorry about that. Having a one year old as well as an almost two year old three days a week as well as work another three days a week does not make for easy writing time. Anyhow I'm back now with an update and I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for all the favourites and alerts added for this story, it makes me really happy to see so many people enjoying it. My favourite thing is reviews though so even if you only write to say great chapter please do, I love them sooooooo much. Anyway on with the story.

Courage

Draco left the medical wing, or more accurately was kicked out of the medical wing, when breakfast time rolled around. He made his way toward the great hall, wondering if perhaps Harry might like to have something read to him and what. A quiet shriek caught his attention and he paused to look around for the source of the noise. He couldn't spot anything behind him or ahead of him in the corridor and there weren't any turns coming up for a while. The next place he looked was outside through one of the castle windows and that's when he spotted the group of Gryffindors, standing around in a circle, jeering at someone they had hanging upside down in the air.

Draco ran back to the closest door, which thankfully wasn't too far away, and made his way quickly back to where he'd seen the group. As he approached he saw clothes flying away and another shriek met his ears followed by a lot of laughter from the group. A quick expelliamus had several in the group flying backwards. The rest saw him coming and ran off, leaving the figure who'd been hanging in the air to drop heavily back to the ground.

He ran over to the downed figure and was horrified to find it was a girl they'd strung up and stripped of all her clothing. She was curled up in a ball, shaking and sobbing when he reached her and he immediately pulled his robe off to cover her. She shrieked at his first touch and pulled away.

"It's okay," he soothed her gently, wrapping the robe around her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She looked up at him then and he saw that it was Astoria Greengrass, the young Gryffindor who'd helped them find Harry the previous night. He knew her elder sister, Daphne, well, she was in his house and the same age so they had some classes together. He'd never really spoken to Astoria though.

"Malfoy," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "They took my clothes and my wand."

"It's okay, I'll find them for you," Draco assured her. "Let's get you inside out of the cold first, okay," he suggested, moving to help her stand up. She got up onto one foot okay, but gasped in pain when she tried to put the other one down. "Did they hurt you?" Draco asked concernedly.

Astoria shook her head. "I was running away and I fell," she replied with a sniffle.

"Okay, come here," he said, leaning down to scoop her up into his arms. She pulled his robe closed around her and snuggled into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on, still sobbing lightly into his shoulder. Her body felt cold in his arms and he rushed to get her back into the castle and out of the elements. He slowed down slightly once he was inside, but still headed with purpose toward the hospital wing. Those Gryffindors needed to be taught a lesson, it was about time Dumbledore did something about them.

He strode through the hospital wing doors and Madame Pomphrey looked about to give him a good tongue lashing until she spotted the shivering girl in his arms.

"What happened to her?" the matron asked.

"A group of Gryffindors chased her out into the snow, then stole her wand and clothes," Draco informed the lady. "She's obviously freezing, but she's hurt her ankle as well."

Madame Pomphrey directed Draco to a bed where he put the still shivering girl down, before Madame Pomphrey once more insisted he go to the great hall for breakfast.

"Are you okay?" he asked Astoria.

She nodded, tear tracks still marking her skin even though her sobs had subsided.

"All right, I'll be back in a little bit anyway so I'll see you shortly. I'll find your wand and your clothes and I'll bring your sister back with me," he promised.

"Thank you," she replied tearfully and he gave her a sympathetic smile before turning to leave the hospital wing. He went out to where he'd found her first and located her wand and her clothes. He spelled the clothes dry and folded, then slipped the wand into them so it wouldn't get lost before continuing on his way to the Great Hall. He Figured Astoria would want her sister there ASAP and once he located Daphne he could give the clothes to her to take back to the medical wing.

He entered the Great Hall and spotted the elder Greengrass immediately, sitting with Pansy and Millicent. He beckoned her away from the other two girls and told her what had happened. The look on her face was downright scary as she thanked him, took Astoria's clothes and headed for the hospital wing. Draco watched her go, thankful that he wasn't a Gryffindor right now, and made his way up to the head table to talk to McGonagall. Dumbledore may not have cared what the Gryffindors did, but McGonagall was a fair professor, she'd see that the Gryffindors were punished appropriately, especially as it was one of their own they'd attacked.

XX

Neville and Draco spent as much of the next few days as possible in the hospital wing with Harry, reading to him, talking to him, anything to let him know he wasn't alone. They were surprised at how many other visitors he had, their friends as well as a lot of the Hufflepuffs, and Harry's bed was soon surrounded by presents and cards. It made Neville happy to see Harry gaining so many new friends and he could tell it made Lilly happy too, even though the woman appeared to be nervous about it at the same time. Neville didn't understand why, but maybe he'd ask Harry when he woke up.

That many visitors around meant that even when Draco and Neville returned to classes on Monday there was always someone free of class to sit with Harry, aside from his mother, that Made Neville happy as well. When Monday night rolled around Neville and Draco pleaded with Madame Pomphrey to let them stay in the hospital wing and wait for Harry to come round, but the Medi-witch sent them to bed and locked the hospital wing doors behind them.

Neville barely slept a wink that night, all he could think about was Harry and the fact that he wouldn't be there with the Hufflepuff when he finally came to. It killed him to think that Harry might take his absence to mean that he didn't care.

When morning finally rolled around Neville was out of bed, dressed and waiting in front of the Hospital wing doors for Madame Pomphrey to open them.

When at last she did the medi-witch eyed him sternly. "Did you even go back to your dorm last night?" she demanded.

"Yes, although I barely slept a wink," he replied honestly.

She shook her head and waved him inside. Lilly was sitting up beside the bed, holding Harry's hand and stroking it softly. She smiled in greeting as he approached. "He woke up during the night," she told him as he sat down in the empty chair beside Harry's bed.

"Was he okay?" Neville asked.

Lilly nodded, "A little disorientated and nervous at first, but he calmed down after a little while," she replied. "He asked for you."

"Really?" Neville asked, feeling the guilt at not being there heighten dramatically.

"Yes. I told him how badly you and Draco fought to stay with him, but Madame Pomphrey made you go anyway. It made him happy to hear it," she told him gently.

"That's good," Neville replied, feeling a little better.

"He was a bit stunned by all the cards and get well gifts as well, he certainly wasn't expecting them all. I don't think he realised he had so many friends," Lilly said, her eyes showing a mixture of sadness and happiness.

"He's certainly gained a few these last few months. I think he just needed to get out of his shell and show them what a great person he is. Now that he has there's no keeping them away," Neville told her with a grin.

"Well he has you to thank for that, and Draco. You've both been really good for him and I'm glad he found you," Lilly said sincerely.

"We are too," Neville replied honestly.

He felt a gentle squeeze of his hand then and looked down to find Harry's beautiful green eyes open and looking at him.

"Nev, hi," he greeted sleepily, smiling serenely up at Neville.

Neville felt his eyes tear and he did his best to blink them away, returning the Hufflepuff's smile. "Hi, Harry, it's good to see you again, we've been worried about you," he greeted back.

Harry's look change to one of concern, "You're crying," he said worriedlym pulling his hand out of his mother's grip to wipe away the first tear as it fell.

"Yeah I am, I'm sorry," Neville replied, taking Harry's hand from his face and gripping it tightly. "I'm just so happy to see you well again," he told the other boy sincerely and Harry's smile returned.

He heard Lilly get up from the chair and move away, most likely to give them some privacy.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you first woke up, I wanted to be," Neville told him.

"That's okay, I know you tried," Harry assured him, gripping his hands in return. "Mum said you've been here a lot the last couple of days, you and Draco, that you've been talking to me and reading to me and that the others came to visit often too."

"Yeah we were here and so were a lot of others, they were all worried about you too," Neville told him with a smile.

"I didn't expect so many people to care," Harry said quietlym looking over at the collection of cards and presents on his bedside table.

"I guess that's what happens when you come out of your shell and start showing everyone how awesome of a person you are," Neville said with a grin.

Harry blushed, "I'm not that great," he argued.

"Yes you are, even if you can't see it I do," Neville replied with a caring smile for his friend.

Harry's blush deepened and he looked away, a soft smile on his face.

"You're awake!" The pair looked up to see Draco enter the room with a big smile on his face for Harry.

Harry smiled back at the blonde, "Yeah, I am," he acknowledged.

Draco leant down to give him a hug and Neville kicked himself for not doing that yet. Draco was just asking how he was feeling when the rest of Neville's Ravenclaw friends entered the room, Draco's Slytherins not far behind. Neville smiled at the group and stepped back so there was room for them all to come and talk to Harry. He was annoyed at the intrusion, and dare he say it, jealous of the happy smiles Harry was giving them all, but he was also happy to see so many people coming to wish Harry well.

"You feeling all right?" Draco asked quietly, coming to stand beside him.

"Yeah," Neville replied, giving his friend a smile. "Just glad he's okay."

"Yeah, me too," Draco replied and they watched Harry chat to the group around him with fond smiles on their faces.

"Wait!" Harry called all of a sudden, turning slightly horrified eyes on Neville. "The persimmon, is it okay?"

For a moment the group was completely silent, then they all dissolved into laughter.

XX

Harry returned to classes the following week and Neville and his Ravenclaw friends made sure he caught up on everything. The Gryffindors were very quiet, most likely having been on the receiving end of a severe tongue lashing from McGonagall. That suited Neville just fine, it meant they weren't harassing Harry, although the Hufflepuff didn't go anywhere on his own. He noticed Astoria had taken to sitting at the Slytherin table with her sister for meals and she seemed to be constantly looking over her shoulder. Neville felt sorry for her, all she did was help save Harry and the rest of her house ostracised her for it.

The Slytherins made no comment about her appearance, having obviously heard from Daphne what had happened and no doubt the older Greengrass girl had told them, in no uncertain terms, to be nice to her sister, which the Slytherins would have been mad not to listen to. Daphne was downright scary when she wanted to be.

Neville was slowly coming to terms with his feelings for Harry, although he still wasn't sure what to do about them. He wanted to be with the Hufflepuff, that was a certainty for him now, he just wasn't sure if Harry was straight, gay or bi, it had never come up in conversation. Draco kept telling him to just go for it, but still Neville hesitated, which was driving his Slytherin friend slightly mad.

On another note, Neville had noticed Astoria Greengrass casting her eyes in Draco's direction quite frequently lately. Draco, for his part, seemed unaware of her attention. So as a friend, and as a bit of payback for the harassment Draco had given him about Harry, Neville decided to discuss it with him.

He caught up with Draco after potions class that morning, the blonde giving him a friendly smile of greeting as he approached. "So, I've noticed a particular brunette staring at you recently," Neville began with a grin and Draco looked around him, as if there would be someone in the corridor Neville was talking about, a look of confusion on his face.

Neville laughed, "Not right now, dopey," he teased, "In the great Hall."

"Oh, who?" Draco asked.

"Miss Greengrass, who you saved from the Gryffindors like the big, strong, Slytherin hero you are," Neville continued to tease.

"Oh, really?" Draco asked, a light blush appearing on his porcelain skin.

"You seem pleased about that," Neville commented.

"Well, she is very pretty and she seems nice," Draco said in explanation.

"Very pretty, yes," Neville agreed. "Maybe you should talk to her. Have you spoken at all since you saved her?"

"No," Draco replied. "I mean I've asked her how she is from time to time, but nothing more than that. I didn't want to talk to her too much in case she was embarrassed after the incident, I did see her without a lot of clothes on."

"Well, from the way she's been looking at you I'd say she'd definitely like to talk to you," Neville told him. "You should say hello at lunch time."

"Maybe I will," Draco replied thoughtfully. Suddenly his look turned sly, "and maybe you should ask Harry to have lunch alone with you in your room," he suggested with a leer. "Don't think talking to me about Astoria is going to get me off your case about Harry."

Neville groaned, "Well, it was worth a shot."

Draco just laughed evilly as they entered the great hall and split off in the direction of their tables. Neville sat down next to Hermione and watched as Draco walked along the Slytherin table, stopping beside Astoria and leaning down to speak to her. You would never know that he'd been hesitant to talk to her before now by looking at him, his demeanour exuded nothing but confidence. Such a Malfoy.

Neville allowed his gaze to wander to the Hufflepuff table then and he found Harry's lovely green eyes looking straight back at him. The boy blushed and looked away immediately, causing Neville to smile. Maybe he did have a chance with the green eyed beauty after all.

XX

As it was it took another week for Neville to work up the courage to say something to Harry and he decided to do it in the nursery after class one day. He made sure Draco knew not to follow them down like he did most afternoons and headed out, ignoring the suggestive grin on Draco's face.

Harry was already there when he arrived, tending to the persimmon which was singing away sweetly in it's pot. He looked up as Neville entered and gave him a breathtaking smile.

"Hey, Nev, how were your classes today?" he asked.

"Good, thanks, how were yours?" Neville asked in return, hoping his nervousness didn't show through in his voice. Unfortunately the universe seemed to be against him this time and Harry turned to look at him with concerned eyes.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Well … no, nothing's wrong I just … I want to talk to you about something," Neville replied nervously.

"Okay," Harry agreed. He turned back to do one last thing for the persimmon before settling in a chair and giving Neville his full attention.

"How do I say this?" Neville wondered out loud, avoiding Harry's gaze as it only made him feel more nervous. Harry remained silent which Neville was grateful for, if the other boy had started asking questions he didn't think he'd be able to get out what he wanted to say. "Okay, it's like this. I … um …" he sighed in annoyance at himself before pushing ahead, knowing it was now or never. "I like you, Harry," he confessed still not looking at the other boy.

"That's good, Nev, I like you too, you're my friend," Harry replied, still sounding confused.

"No, I don't mean like that. I mean I like you … a lot. Actually, I think I love you." There, he'd said it. He wanted nothing more than to run away to his room and hide but he had to wait and see what Harry had to say about it.

There was silence for what felt like forever, then a quiet, "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Neville replied, finally turning to look at the other boy who was staring back at him in obvious shock. "I don't know what you feel about me, I don't even know if you're into boys but … I love you, Harry, and I want to be with you." He may as well go for broke, there was no point leaving things out now.

"Oh, Nev," Harry said, tears shining in his eyes. "That would be so lovely, you have no idea." Happiness soared through Neville. "But I can't." The happiness died instantly. "I'm sorry, I wish I could, but I just can't."

"Why not?" Neville asked, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest at the anguish he could see in Harry's eyes.

Harry shook his head, "I can't tell you, I'm sorry," he said, tears slipping from his eyes.

"Of course you can, Harry, you can tell me anything," Neville argued.

"Not this," Harry argued back, standing up from his chair and moving towards the door. "I'm sorry."

Neville caught his arm as he passed and Harry turned tear drenched eyes on him. "Harry, please," he pleaded softly, tears in his own eyes now. "If you don't feel the same for me just say so."

"No, it's not that," Harry admitted. "You're wonderful, Nev, perfect in fact. That's why I can't. I'm so sorry." He pulled away then and Neville let him go, watching painfully as Harry ran toward the castle, his sobs echoing behind him. Neville caste a patronus to follow him and make sure he got back to Hufflepuff tower safely, before sinking down into a chair. He felt sick and heartbroken, not for himself but for Harry. The other boy hadn't rejected him, not really, if he had Neville would have been crushed but he would have worked through it and got past the hurt … eventually. He hadn't though, he wanted to be with Neville too and Neville had to work out why he couldn't. It was his mission now and he couldn't allow himself to break down into a ball of sadness until he'd worked it out.

Draco rushed into the green house. "Hey, Harry just ran past me crying, what happened?" he asked worriedly.

Neville wiped at the tears that had fallen from his eyes and looked up into Draco's worried, grey eyes, "I need a favour."

XX

I'm a bit mean with the cliffies aren't I? Don't worry there's more to come soon. Please let me know what you think, favouriting the story is nice but reviews really make my day.

See you soon

Kayla xxoo


	7. Chapter 7

Hello hello back again with another update. Thank you for your patience and your lovely comments/reviews, I'm so glad you're enjoying this story. I'll be away for a while over the next few weeks and not sure when I'll have internet back, but I'm still online for about a week so please tell me what you think.

See you soon

xxoo

A Favour

"Please."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"Come on, I know you can do it."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why should I do this?"

"Because I love you."

"Nice try."

"Because I'm your favourite god son and you love me too."

"Yes, a terrible mistake on my part."

"Come on, please, you know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"So why are you asking?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"You are not endearing me to the idea in any way."

"Because they're my friends."

"Yes, there's the truth of it."

"And because you like them too."

"I do not like Potter."

"But you like his mother. I know your history, wouldn't you like a chance to make things right with her?"

"That is emotional blackmail."

"We're Slytherins, we thrive on blackmail. And you do like Neville, you said so."

"That is the last time I tell you anything."

"So help us, please. I know you can do it, you're the smartest man in this place."

"Flattering me is pointless."

"It's not flattery when it's the truth."

"Fine, I will find out what you want me to. It will, however, cost you a week of cupboard organising."

"Three days."

"Five."

"Four."

"Done. You can start on Monday after classes, and bring Longbottom with you."

"I will. Thank you, Uncle Sev, I do appreciate it."

"Hmmm, I'm sure. You are lucky that I do in fact love you, Draco."

"I know, and I do love you too you know."

"You've already got what you wanted, the sucking up can cease."

"It's not sucking up if it's true." Draco hugged the potions master and left the classroom, the man giving him a very unconvincing glare all the while.

"How did you go?" Neville asked once he'd closed the door behind him.

"We have to clean the cupboards for four days," Draco replied.

"Fair," Neville replied with a nod. "Do you think he'll be able to help?"

"It's Uncle Sev, he can do anything," Draco assured him, giving his friend a pat on the back.

XX

"Severus I cannot divulge that information," Professor Sprout snapped indignantly.

"Why ever not? I am a teacher at this school, surely you are not suggesting I cannot be trusted," Severus baited, knowing the Hufflepuff would feel the need to soothe him after that comment.

"Of course not, Severus, but this information was entrusted to me, I cannot betray Mr Potter's confidence," Sprout reasoned.

"And what if I can help him?" Severus asked. "Would that not be worth a small betrayal? I will not tell anyone who divulged the information to me, nor will I share it with anyone else."

"I know you wouldn't, Severus, I know you're an honourable man." The elder professor walked away to tend to one of her plants.

When nothing more was forthcoming Severus waited as long as his patience could last before asking, "Well?"

Sprout turned to look at him, her expression revealing just how torn she was about this. "Why do you want to know so badly?" she asked.

"Mr Longbottom is a favoured student of yours isn't he?" Severus asked.

"Yes, why?" the woman replied looking puzzled.

"He is in love with Mr Potter and when he revealed this to the young man in question Harry told him they couldn't be together because of something to do with himself that he couldn't disclose," Severus explained, knowing the soft hearted Hufflepuff would want to help young love blossom.

"Maybe Harry just doesn't feel the same and didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings," Sprout suggested.

"No, Harry told Mr Longbottom that he did, and he was most distressed when he left the greenhouse. Besides, you know as well as I do that Harry is an honest child, he would have simply told Mr Longbottom the truth as gently as possible. I'm assuming Harry's reluctance to tell anyone of his condition stems from a fear of rejection, so he will never reveal it to anyone. You on the other hand know that some people, Mr Longbottom in particular, are better than that. Surely you want to help them be happy." Severus applauded himself mentally for his ability to pull at her heart strings.

The lady sighed, "All right, but you are not to reveal this information to anyone, not even Mr Longbottom. It is only to be used to find another way to help Harry, understood!" she stipulated sternly.

"Of course," Severus agreed easily.

"Honestly I'm surprised the headmaster didn't inform you of this in the beginning."

That made Severus raise an eyebrow, "Oh, and why is that?"

"Because you are probably the most qualified member of staff to help Mr Potter," she replied.

XX

"Did you find out?" Draco asked as soon as he walked into the potions classroom on Monday afternoon.

"I did indeed, however, the information was entrusted to me only so far as to enable me to assist Mr potter, I cannot reveal what I have learnt to either of you," Severus replied, not looking up from the book his nose was buried in. "This is going to add a great deal to my work load so it's cauldrons you'll be scrubbing, and it will be several nights a week until I have the issue sorted. For now you can start with the first year cauldrons, over there," Severus added with a wave of his hand in the general direction of the sink.

Draco groaned but made his way over to the sink, Neville following without a sound. Draco knew he wouldn't protest, even if Severus had told them they had to scrub the entire school. Harry hadn't come near either of them that day, keeping to himself or his fellow Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws looked worriedly between Harry and Neville all day, obviously realising something was very wrong. The Hufflepuffs seemed to fluctuate between looking at Neville angrily and sympathetically, obviously aware Harry was upset but not sure why and they didn't know if it was Neville's fault or Harry's. It must be hard to be a Hufflepuff.

"Will you be able to help Harry, Sir?" Neville asked as he passed Severus' desk.

"I do hope so, Mr Longbottom," Severus replied and Draco could see what almost looked like sympathy in the potions master's eyes.

Neville nodded and moved over to the sink to begin scrubbing. Draco smiled to himself as he ran water in the sink. He knew Severus liked Neville, even if he wouldn't admit it.

XX

"Why was I not informed of this Head Master?"

"It was Lilly's wish that as few people as possible be aware of Harry's condition."

"You know perfectly well who and what I am, did you not think that perhaps I could be of some assistance to the boy?"

"I do know, yes, just as I know the depth of your hatred for the boy's father. I had no way of knowing you would want to help or what you might do with the information if I gave it to you."

"Do you honestly think I have so little honour as to spread Mr Potter's condition all over the wizarding world, Albus?"

"You hated James."

"And I love Lilly! You know that. I left the dark lord's service and became your personal slave to keep her family safe, so don't you dare tell me you didn't know I would want to help!"

"What do you intend to do?"

"Find a way to fix the problem."

"How?"

"Occlumency."

"Occlumency is what is helping him now, Severus. I have been seeing to his training."

"No offence, headmaster, but we both know who, out of the two of us, is the more talented Occlumens. I have already found, what I believe, is a remedy for Mr Potter's condition. I intend to speak to Lilly about it this afternoon."

"Severus, what if you're wrong?"

"Then I'm wrong and it doesn't work. What has Mr Potter got to loose?"

There was a heavy sigh, "Very well, I will summon Lilly here and you can speak to her."

"Why, so you can spy on our conversation?"

"So I can help her understand the options and risks."

"How little faith you have in me, Headmaster."

XX

It was that afternoon that found Harry sitting in the headmaster's office with Lilly and Severus. Lilly had insisted he be involved in the conversation as it pertained to his well being.

"Do you really think you can help him, Severus?" Lilly asked, hope and worry waring for dominance in her eyes.

"I do indeed, however it will not be easy, Mr Potter needs to be aware of this. And as the headmaster has already said, several times, there is no guarantee that it will work, or that it will not pose a risk to Mr Potter," Severus replied as gently as he could while still being truthful. Lilly deserved to know what her son would be getting into, as did the boy himself.

"I want to do it." Harry's decisive statement caught them all by surprise.

"Are you sure, Harry? You have heard the risks involved," Dumbledore asked.

"I have and I know it's not a sure thing. But if there's a way I can be normal, even a little more so than I am now, I want to do it. I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life like this," Harry finished sadly.

"Lilly?" Severus asked.

"If it's what Harry wants, I won't stop him," the woman replied, looking worried but determined.

"Very well, we will begin whenever you're ready," Severus said, addressing Harry.

"Now," the boy said determinedly.

"You do know this will probably take some time to accomplish. I would suggest three or four sessions per week until the problem is sorted," Severus told him.

"Whatever I have to do, Sir," Harry agreed and Severus couldn't help but admire the boy for his bravery and determination.

"Come down to the dungeon then, we will begin," Severus directed and Harry jumped up from the chair. He bid farewell to the headmaster and hugged his mother before leaving the room.

"Severus, please, be careful with him," Lilly pleaded.

"Of course," Severus promised, giving Lilly his most sincere expression. "If you wish you may be present for the first session."

"I would like that, thank you," Lilly agreed.

Severus motioned for her to proceed him and followed her out of the headmaster's office. He would take care of her child, because he was her child and because Draco and Neville loved the boy, both in their own way.

XX

Harry arrived in the green house just three days after the incident between him and Neville, looking nervous and apologetic. "Hi," he greeted them shyly.

"Hi, Harry," Draco greeted him with a warm smile, coming forward to give the smaller boy a gentle hug. Harry hugged him back and returned the smile with a nervous one of his own.

Draco released him and bid him and Neville good day before leaving them to talk. Neville was tending to the persimmon, but put everything down and gave Harry a warm smile as he approached. "How is she?" Harry asked as he approached the plant.

"She's good, singing happily away," Neville replied.

"I feel bad, I haven't spent a lot of time with her," Harry said moving to stand beside Neville and watching the plant with a sad smile.

"I've been taking good care of her, don't you worry," Neville assured him. "But of course, we'd all love to see you more."

Harry gave the plant a gentle stroke and turned to look at Neville for the first time since arriving. "I'm sorry, about the other day," he said quietly.

"It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong," Neville assured him softly.

"I wish I could explain it I just … can't. I don't … I don't want to stay away from you though, I'm happy when we're together," he confessed quietly.

"So am I," Neville agreed. "I don't want you to stay away either."

Harry nodded looking away, but not before Neville saw the tears sparkling in his eyes. Throwing caution to the wind he reached out and pulled Harry into his arms, holding him tightly. He was thrilled beyond words when Harry held him back.

"Look I understand that you feel like you can't tell me, that's okay, it's your life. But I love you, Harry, I'd never judge you and I want to help, really I do. Do what you have to do, just know that I'm here, all right, and if I can only ever be your friend I'll accept that, just please don't shut me out of your life completely," Neville said softly. The thought of Harry being gone completely was horrible.

Harry's arms tightened around him and Neville was surprised by the strength in them. "I wont," he promised. "I don't want you to be gone either."

It hurt that he couldn't be with Harry the way he wanted, but he wouldn't lose him completely and that was enough for now.

XX

Over the next few weeks Harry went to the green house after classes then went to his sessions with Professor Snape. Neither Neville or Draco knew what happened in those sessions, the professor was very tight lipped about it, and they didn't ask Harry anything about them, not wanting to scare him away again. They both began to notice changes in Harry however, whether it was him talking more than usual, or interacting more in class, he even seemed to be eating more and if Neville wasn't mistaken the Hufflepuff was growing taller and filling out more.

All the changes were positive, but both boys were dying to know what was going on and it hurt Neville to be excluded like he was, even if he knew it was in Harry's best interest that he stay out of it.

Draco did manage to overhear a conversation one night, about a month into everything, when he passed by Severus' office on his way to the dorm after scrubbing cauldrons.

"You're doing very well, Harry."

"Do you think so? It feels like I'm getting nowhere some days."

"You knew this process would take time."

"I know and I know you're setting the pace the way it has to be set. I guess I just feel impatient some times."

"It is understandable. You have spent your life cowed by your condition, knowing you're getting close to being able to live without it hindering you must cause a great amount of impatience."

"Yeah."

"Have you spoken to your friends about all of this yet?"

"No."

"Perhaps you should."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"This will freak them out, I know it will and … I'm frightened to lose them, Sir."

"I do not believe you would, Mr Potter, at least not Mr Longbottom or Mr Malfoy. They care far too much for you to be frightened away by this."

"How do you know?"

"Because they are the reason I knew of your condition in the first place."

"They know?"

"No, they do not know the nature of your condition. After your conversation with Mr Longbottom that afternoon, when you explained something was wrong with you that you couldn't disclose, Draco came to me and asked for my assistance. They did not push for details when I did find the needed information and have spent a good amount of their spare time scrubbing cauldrons and cleaning my class room so I can be here for these lessons with you."

"They do that, really?"

"Yes they do. Mr Longbottom loves you a great deal, Mr Potter, I do not believe there is much, if anything, that he wouldn't do to help you. Mr Malfoy cares a great deal for you and Mr Longbottom and he wants to see you both happy. I do believe you underestimate just how important you are to the people around you, Mr Potter."

"It seems you might be right. I mean, I know Neville said he loved me but … I guess I didn't quite believe it … or understand just what it meant."

"Feelings are complicated things, Mr Potter, they are not always easy to navigate or predict."

"No, you're right."

"Your session for the night is over, you should return to your dorm and rest. I know these late nights, on top of all the NEWT work you must be doing already, would be draining on you. I am pleased to see however, that your body appears healthier than it was prior to beginning our sessions."

"It is, I feel so much stronger than I ever have. I can deal with a little tiredness if this is the trade off. Thank you, Professor, I know you don't have to do this for me and I'm so grateful that you do."

"The effort you put into these sessions is all the thanks I require, Mr Potter. You would not be doing as well as you are if you were in any way lacking in your efforts."

"Still I'm grateful, thank you, Sir. Good night."

"Good night, Mr Potter."

"Why don't you call me Harry."

"Very well, Harry."

Draco hid around the corner behind a statue and watched as Harry left the room. Severus walked out behind him and stood at the door, watching him until he was out of sight.

"Are you going to keep hiding or come out and ask the question I know is coming?" Severus voice was booming in the silence and Draco cringed, moving out from behind the statue so Severus could see him.

"How did you know I was there?" he asked.

"I heard the footsteps walk down the corridor and stop," Severus replied. "I knew it was you specifically because I know the sound of your footfall."

"You do know that's creepy right?" Draco asked.

"Says the boy skulking in the corridor."

Draco laughed. "Touche. So, he's doing well."

"He is indeed, and that is all I will say on the subject," Severus replied.

"I expected nothing else. Good night, Severus," Draco said with a smile, continuing on his way to the dungeon. He couldn't wait to tell Neville about this conversation.

XX

So they're making some headway with Harry's condition. What did we think of the opening scene? Did you know it was Severus and Draco before names were mentioned? I actually really enjoyed writing it that way so I hope you liked it too. I know I've probably created more questions but I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. Please let me know what you think, I love to hear it. Hopefully I'll be back soon.


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